Most people assume that baby boomers can’t stand influencers, and a recent study showed that they are right. But maybe not for the reason you’d think.
A Morning Consult poll of roughly 2,000 U.S. adults found that 31 percent of boomers trust influencer recommendations at least somewhat, compared with 62 percent of Gen Z and 64 percent of millennials. Forty percent say they trust influencers less than they did a few years ago. Asked how influencer content makes them feel, boomers picked “annoyed” more than any other generation, at 26 percent. Only 5 percent said “happy.” A separate Edelman study of more than 17,000 people worldwide found that just 24 percent of boomers follow a content creator, versus 86 percent of Gen Z.
Those numbers make sense at first glance. The influencer business grew up chasing the young, and the people running it are open about the reason. “Brands are terrified of taking any dollars away from speaking to young people,” said Jennifer Meehan, an executive vice president at Edelman. German marketing professor Florian Dost, who interviewed influencer agencies and talent managers for a recent study, learned that the numbers don’t always show what is working. Some managers had found that older influencers often drove higher conversion rates, but brands rejected them anyway. Agencies sometimes raised it, Dost said, but “clients don’t want to hear.”
So the so-called boomer problem might be a boomer-shaped hole in the market. Boomers account for 42 percent of spending in affluent U.S. households, according to Visa research, and U.S. marketers are expected to spend $40 billion on creator partnerships and ads this year. Leaving the generation with that much spending power on the sidelines seems short-sighted.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t any older creators. Stewart Reynolds, a 56-year-old Canadian comedy creator known as Brittlestar, says 45 percent of his audience is over 45 and he’s landed deals with Yorkshire Tea and Yoplait. Even so, he jokes that he’s jealous of his son, also a successful comedy creator, who gets campaigns “I wouldn’t get because I’m not young and fit.” Older creators who do break through draw real audiences. Marlene “Granny Guns” Flowers has more than 4.5 million followers, and “Brunch with Babs” creator Barbara Costello has more than 9 million.
Part of the problem with the boomer market is pacing. Influencer marketing is built for the quick click, and Morning Consult found that 43 percent of boomers have never bought a product because of an influencer’s recommendation. But Lucy Kruszynski, global head of brand at the agency Buttermilk, says some boomers follow a creator for months, sometimes up to a year, before they feel comfortable buying. That doesn’t suggest immunity. It suggests a slower trust curve that doesn’t fit a two-week campaign. The fix she points to isn’t matching a creator’s age to the audience’s. It’s finding someone the audience can “see something of themselves in,” usually through shared interests like music, art, or home improvement, and posting consistently over time. That is something creators themselves are starting to want, so you’d think the industry would start moving that direction.
One thing is clear. Even if boomers don’t claim to like influencers, there is still a market for OnlyFans models over 50, and not just for adult content. Stars who built fame long before social media have been turning to direct relationships with fans. Donna Mills, 85, reportedly earned “many six figures” within weeks of joining OnlyFans, on a page that doesn’t even charge a subscription. “Baywatch” alum Erika Eleniak joined at 56, and “Battlestar Galactica” star Tricia Helfer at 52. There’s no data on how old their subscribers are, so this doesn’t necessarily indicate boomers are subscribing. But their appeal fits what Kruszynski describes: a sense that fans see something of themselves, and content that arrives steadily rather than as a one-time ad.
None of this means boomers love influencers. The numbers say plenty of them don’t. But a generation that distrusts the format isn’t the same as a generation that can’t be reached. Brands that would rather chase the audience that’s already easy to find may be mistaking their own habits for a law of nature.