WYZA, a socially-connected digital discovery platform targeting baby boomers, has launched in Australia.
Originally set up as RetirementLiving.TV in 2014 to provide information on the retirement village and aged care sectors, the site rebranded this week to WYZA.com.au pivoting to capture a much broader B2C opportunity across financial planning, insurance, travel, property loans, entertainment and real estate as well as retirement, aged care and home care industries.
According to WYZA’s founder and CEO, Michael Farley, there was a real opportunity to speak to the baby boomers demographic with research showing a majority had a strong dislike for the way advertisers communicate to them.
“We identified a market gap in the online lifestyle media space specifically targeting the 50+ market which represents 7.9 million Australians,” Farley said.
“Over-50s have increasing spending power, greater freedom and aptitude for technology but brands seem to miss the point when it comes to selling products and services to them.”
“With baby boomers making up for the largest online demographic in Australia and with this set to grow even more, we believe WYZA will build a real competitive advantage from its specialisation.”
Farley said that WYZA’s strength was its comprehensive commercialisation agenda.
“Our business model of multiple revenue streams includes vendor commissions, lead generation payments, revenue share from white labelled products, advertising and marketing services as well as a sophisticated subscription-based directory business centred on accommodation and services targeting the 50+ demographic.”
WYZA’s chair, Sandra Hook brings extensive media sector experience and is a big believer in deep content vertical sites, having run some of the largest in the country when CEO of NewsLifeMedia, a division of News Corp.
“As consumers seek information about their specific passions, interests and needs, integrated verticals such as WYZA deliver much higher engagement metrics and can better service their community. WYZA.com.au has a razor-sharp focus on the wants and needs of the 50+ community, something horizontal portals or mainstream media can never do,” Hook said.
Following successful seed and angel rounds, WYZA is undertaking a Series A capital raising round of $2.5 million. Funds will be used to hire additional staff and to scale the business.
The site rebranding to WYZA aims to broaden its appeal and comprehensively cover people who are not yet retired while continuing to talk to those who are. WYZA reflects the 50+ who are enjoying a new prime, with the tag line “a little older, a lot wiser” encapsulating this broader market.
