M.J. van der Goot

Age Differences in Media Multitasking: A Diary Study

This study provides insight in age differences in the amount of media multitasking and in the media that people combine. Results of a diary study (N = 3,048) among 13- to 65-year-olds reject the popular notion that media multitasking is particularly prevalent among young people. The youngest (13–16 years) and the oldest (50–65 years) age groups did distinguish themselves in terms of media combinations. The youngest group particularly combined music with online activities, whereas the oldest group was unique in combining radio with e-mail or newspapers. A plausible explanation for these age differences in media multitasking are lifespan related and generational differences in media use in general.

Older Adults’ Television Viewing from a Life-Span Perspective: Past Research and Future Challenges

This chapter overviews research on older adults television viewing and discusses the assumptions and empirical findings in terms of a life-span perspective. The life-span perspective emphasizes that gains and losses jointly occur in later life. Selection and compensation constitute two central strategies in gerontological models of how people adapt to gains and losses. With regard to television viewing, selection means that people can choose television viewing over other activities for reaching goals in high-priority domains because television viewing is appropriate given environmental demands and individual motivations, skills, and capacities. Compensation means that people can use television viewing as a substitute for diminished abilities or activities. This chapter reviews available literature in three sections: time use, social functions, and content preferences. A large share ofprevious research on older adults television viewing appears to be biased toward compensation, whereas research in this field insufficiently considered selection strategies.

The effects of emotional television advertising on older and younger adults

Understanding older adults’ responses to advertising is vital for the industry because older adults constitute a large and lucrative market: The world population is aging (United Nations, 2012) and consumers of 50 years and older have more disposable income than younger consumers (e.g., Ahmad, 2003; Carrigan and Szmigin, 2000; Moschis, 2012; Yoon et al., 2009). Surprisingly, research on older adults’ processing of advertising is rather limited (e.g., Gunter, 1998; Micu and Chowdhury, 2010; Moschis, 2012; Simcock and Sudbury, 2006; Yoon et al., 2009).

Age differences in recall and liking of arousing television commercials

Abstract This article examines whether there are differences between older and younger adults in recall and liking of arousing television commercials. As hypothesized, the experiment demonstrated that older adults remembered brands and products in calm commercials better than in arousing commercials, and they also liked calm commercials more. In contrast, younger adults remembered brands and products in arousing commercials better and they liked these commercials more. In addition, (curvi)linear relationships showed that for older adults arousal deteriorates their recall and liking, whereas for younger adults arousal – up to a certain point – is beneficial. These findings strongly suggest that advertising effects found in younger samples are unlikely to be the same for older target groups. An important practical implication is that it currently seems wise to make commercials targeted towards older adults calm instead of arousing when the aim is to generate brand recall and liking.

Media generations and their advertising attitudes and avoidance: a six-country comparison

This cross-national survey (N = 5784) examined generational differences in media use, advertising attitudes and avoidance for five media (websites, social media, mobile phones, television, newspapers) in six countries (Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, United States, France, and the Netherlands). The results showed that the net generation and the newspaper generation, but not the TV generation, were clearly distinct in the frequency of their media use in all six countries. For advertising attitudes, generational patterns were visible, however, neither for all media nor in all countries. When generational differences did occur, the net generation was on the positive end, whereas the newspaper generation was usually the most negative. For advertising avoidance, generational patterns were less present and consistent. The findings point out interesting directions for future research. Practical implications for advertisers and media planners are discussed.