The baby boom generation is getting older and the ratings reports are changing to give more information about the population bubble as it ages. Stations which target the older demographic, especially talk stations, have long argued that the lifestyle and spending patterns of 55 year olds are vastly different from 75 year olds, yet these two age groups have been lumped together in the 55+ demographic. Until now. The Nielsen Company has today announced that the older demographics will now be split into two reporting segments in its public survey reports.

While people were considered ‘old’ at age 55 in previous generations, now 55 year olds, having delayed having children until later in life, are still actively working and looking forward to an active retirement in their late 60s. Better health care also means that people are healthy and active longer than in any previous generation, making them a viable target for advertisers and station programmers.

The Nielsen Company, after consultation with CRA’s research committee, is slightly modifying the format style of the public reporting that is released following each Metropolitan and Regional Radio survey, splitting the 55+ demographic into 55-64 year olds and a new segment reporting those 65 years and over. The grocery buyers segment will drop out of the public reports due to the physical size of the reporting page.

With the aging Australian population, the current P55+ segment represents almost 30% of the P10+ population.  By splitting P55+ into P55-64 and P65+ segments, this ‘evens out’ the standard demographic group sizes and recognises the ‘unofficial’ retiring age of 65 used in broad marketing terms.

The public reporting will now include the following standard demographic groups:

P10+

P10-17

P18-24

P25-39

P40-54

P55-64

P65+

This is a reporting change only and does not reflect different methodologies or changes to survey results. Stations will still be able to ‘slice and dice’ demographic data in any way they wish, as they have always done, using Nielsen’s analysis tools to report their specific targets.

The changes will take place from the Metro Survey 4 2010 results release, which will be released later this month, on June 22. Regional markets will reflect the changes in all future survey releases from July 2010

The page below highlights the changes in the report and shows how it will now look, using Sydney survey 3 as an example. For example, the ‘recut’ report reveals more clearly that 2GB and ABC702 have the highest share of listeners aged over 65, while 2UE and WS FM have a greater share of the ‘younger oldies’ aged 55-64 than they do of their listeners aged over 65.

The change will be beneficial for stations and for those who report their results, such as we do here on radioinfo. A good move Nielsen.