Aussie Sexagenarian Website Pulls Big Audience Numbers

A media site that has sprung out of the conversation of 60 year olds – www.startsatsixty.com.au- has celebrated 1.5 million PVs and 470,000 UVs in just two years with no media backing.

For many years it’s been a market many in media and marketing don’t need to focus on, but it seems all that is changing. With 34 per cent of consumption growth expected to come from the Baby Boomers in the next 15 years while just 12 per cent will likely come from 50 and under, it is no wonder brands are catching on.

Starts at 60 have announced its two year target of 1.5 million pageviews per month and reaching 10 per cent of the Australian over 60 population online. The media site which began from humble beginnings and has grown without media backing is now exceeding 1.55 million PVs and have an interaction level of over 600,000 interactions on social each week.

“The over 60s are fairly and squarely online and well deserved of a content and conversation stream that is personalised to them, and active in social media” says the founder of Starts at 60, Rebecca Wilson, who has big plans for the site.

“More than 75 per cent of our reader base is consuming media from the comfort of their mobile device which frankly, I don’t think many people expect to hear when they think of this generation.”

“At first it surprised us when an article lifted up and permeated via social media with a hundred thousand or more views in a few days,” said Wilson. Now, it is part of what happens weekly for the team which publish daily from their office in Brisbane and an audience that is nationwide.

“We all know we are in a time when the media landscape in Australia is changing rapidly, and the needs of some markets are being saturated while others are being ignored.”

And Starts at 60 are certainly approaching the market differently to others that have been in this market for decades. Highly social media led, the group are creating dynamic conversations online daily with the voices of over 60s speaking freely in their site in articles and conversations. It is never surprising to see 500-1000 comments on an article and an handsome level of debate.

Wilson quotes some rather extraordinary statistics when asked about the size of the market that sits behind the over 60s she serves. None of the information seems to be discussed prolifically enough though.

According to Neilsen, she says, baby boomers control over 80 per cent of personal financial assets and more than half of all consumer spending in the western world. They buy 77 per cent of all prescription drugs, 61 per cent of over-the-counter drugs and 80 per cent of all leisure travel.

There is 4.7 million over 60s in Australia today, and this number is growing faster than most other demographic groups.

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