People Aged 50–64: Heavy Consumers of Both Traditional and Digital Media

Work and Children Shape Their Media Consumption

Working hours drastically reduce the amount of time spent watching TV. TV viewing time averages 5 hours and 29 minutes per day among the non-working population non-working population According to convention, this category includes those who are neither employed nor unemployed: young people aged under 15 years old, students and pensioners who do not work in addition to their studies or retirement, housewives, people who are incapable of working, etc. Find out more , compared to just 3 hours and 46 minutes among the working population working population The working population is composed of people performing a professional activity, including the unemployed who have already worked. Find out more . The gap widens significantly in the afternoon, with 67% more viewership among the non-working population [...] compared to the working population, notes Isabelle Maurice, Director of Research, Monitoring, and Forecasting at Médiamétrie. 

Employment is, by nature, also a key factor for radio, as its consumption is often associated with commuting. With nearly 80% of the cumulative audience audience The set of listeners, viewers, or TV viewers in which each individual is equally weighted, regardless of their listening/viewing duration or frequency of contact. Find out more among the working 50- to 64-year-old population population The universe of a survey composed of basic statistical units. These units may be physical persons, households, companies, municipalities, etc. The population serves as a sampling frame for selecting a sample, and as a basis for calculation of the extrapolations from the sample. Find out more , this group is thus “more likely to be listeners of the radio, with a 9-point lead over the non-working population,” the expert continues. Their peak listening times also coincide with these daily commutes. Furthermore, while only 44% of the non-working population went to the movies during the year, 69% of the working population went to the movies, serving as “key audiences for French cinema.”

Contrary to popular belief, those aged 50–64 “often still have a child living in their Household Household In the statistical sense of the term, a household refers to all occupants of the same dwelling, whether they are related or not. A household may be composed of a single person. Household populations therefore effectively exclude some communities (workers' hostels, retirement homes, university residences, prisons, etc.), the homeless, seamen and people living in mobile homes. Find out more , a Criterion that proves to be quite significant in their consumption,” analyzes Isabelle Maurice. The presence of their children—up to age 25—has an exponential influence on Parents’ digital digital A signal is said to be digital if it can be represented by a series of discrete values that can be coded in binary as either 0 or 1. It is the opposite of analogue signal. Digital broadcasting has become the primary mode for television broadcasting, whether by cable, satellite, or even terrestrial. Find out more habits. Having children in the household nearly doubles the probability of using SVOD. While, overall, 42% of 50- to 64-year-olds use a platform, this rate drops to 33% in households without children, but usage rises to 54% when children are present. Podcast Podcast Audio programme in the form of episodes or series available online for listening on demand. This terminology comes from the contraction of the words Ipod and Broadcast... Find out more listening reaches the same level among parents, compared to only 35% for others. Children “also contribute to help familiarize parents with streaming streaming A technical method of digitally transmitting data to enable the playback of a continuous flow of video and audio material. Unlike terrestrial or satellite TV broadcasting, this technology requires a two-way network (internet) to send periodic requests to the streaming server in order to receive video or audio micro-files. Find out more platforms.” The presence of children also influences internet usage: Parents spend 4 hours and 24 minutes per day online, which is 1 hour and 38 minutes more than households without children. The effect is particularly noticeable on social media and messaging apps: 50- to 64-year-olds living with their children spend twice as much time on these platforms as those without children in the household (47 minutes without children in the household vs. 1 hour and 21 minutes with children in the household)." These services certainly allow them “to follow their children’s accounts and stay in Contact with them.”

An appetite for innovative offerings

More generally, and although they are deeply rooted in traditional media, with a strong “attachment [...] to the radio and television, the 50–64 age group shows a “genuine curiosity about new media uses that are gradually becoming part of their routine,” notes Isabelle Maurice. This is especially true since this target target A subset of the population which we aim to reach with a show or advertising campaign. The target is defined using socio-demographic, equipment, or behavioural characteristics. Find out more , which has the highest median median In statistics, the median is the value that splits all the values into two equal parts. Find out more income, is “better equipped than the average individual in terms of all devices,” particularly when it comes to receivers.

It is worth noting that the share of live TV declined year-over-year, in favor of online video, which accounted for 12% of time spent watching video in 2025, compared to 9% in 2024. 

Above all, they are the leading consumers of on-demand programming, at 27 minutes per day. Catch-up Catch-up Catch-up technology allows TV viewers to watch or rewatch a television programme after it has been broadcast live. Find out more and/or Preview Preview A way to view a television programme via a catch-up platform before it is broadcast on live TV. Find out more services reach reach Reach is the term used to describe the reach achieved by a medium, publication, advertisement or campaign. It corresponds to the number of users reached and is therefore quantitative data. Reach plays a key role in measuring return on investment. It is used to determine whether or not the communication is effective. Whether for a website or a social network, reach corresponds to the proportion of the Internet user population or the audience reached by the site or network over a set period. Find out more 60% of 50- to 64-year-olds each week. They are also heavy radio listeners, with 77% of daily listeners, for an average listening time of more than 3 hours per day. Their heavy use of digital media is a defining characteristic. Digital Digital A signal is said to be digital if it can be represented by a series of discrete values that can be coded in binary as either 0 or 1. It is the opposite of analogue signal. Digital broadcasting has become the primary mode for television broadcasting, whether by cable, satellite, or even terrestrial. Find out more accounts for more than a quarter of consumption, with “a nice increase of +21% in Listeners over the course of two years.” This growth is primarily driven by mobile, with a +35% increase in listeners on this medium medium In the broad sense, any means of communication that could convey an advertising message. This is also the name given to various components of a media: TV networks, radio stations, press titles, etc. Find out more over two years. As for SVOD, it is now a mature market. The use of video-on-demand services has become widespread since the health crisis. Today, 98% of 50- to 64-year-olds are familiar with at least one SVOD platform. In addition to being heavy users, they are prime customers. “86% of them pay for their subscription, so this is a a valuable paying audience audience The set of listeners, viewers, or TV viewers in which each individual is equally weighted, regardless of their listening/viewing duration or frequency of contact. Find out more ,” notes the research specialist. Another notable finding is that 83% of 50- to 64-year-olds prefer to watch content on their platforms in the French version.

Their fondness for mobile games, such as Candy Crush or Royal Match, is just as unexpected. People aged 50–64 lead the way in time spent on these types of games, with 24 minutes per day. “Their daily reach reach Reach is the term used to describe the reach achieved by a medium, publication, advertisement or campaign. It corresponds to the number of users reached and is therefore quantitative data. Reach plays a key role in measuring return on investment. It is used to determine whether or not the communication is effective. Whether for a website or a social network, reach corresponds to the proportion of the Internet user population or the audience reached by the site or network over a set period. Find out more is 31%, the same as that of 15–24-year-olds,” Adoption of conversational artificial intelligence is, meanwhile, gradual, with 4.8% of 50-64-year-olds using it daily in June 2025. Daily users in this age group spend an average average The average is one of the most important statistical indicators for a set of numbers. By default, it is the arithmetic mean, calculated by adding the values in the set and then dividing that sum by the number of values. Find out more of 9 minutes and 39 seconds per day on it. Nevertheless, this target target A subset of the population which we aim to reach with a show or advertising campaign. The target is defined using socio-demographic, equipment, or behavioural characteristics. Find out more demographic is more cautious toward artificial intelligence, with 52% describing it as “concerning,” and 35% as “risky,” reflecting “greater mistrust of it than the rest of the population population The universe of a survey composed of basic statistical units. These units may be physical persons, households, companies, municipalities, etc. The population serves as a sampling frame for selecting a sample, and as a basis for calculation of the extrapolations from the sample. Find out more ,” notes Médiamétrie’s Director of Internet Audience Measurement Audience Measurement Quantitative study of the frequency of use of media. Find out more . Adoption, therefore, does not equate to enthusiasm.
 

Published by: Médiamétrie Communications Team

Written by: Didier Si Ammour