Third Age Media Inc. of San Francisco said its ThirdAge.com site, a source of content,
community, and commerce for active older adults, will be an anchor tenant in
the Lifestyles Channel of America Online.
Third Age will provide the 15% of AOL members who are 50 years and older with
direct access to ThirdAge.com’s resources. Financial terms of the agreement
were not disclosed.
“A Baby Boomer turns 50 every 7.7 seconds in this country,” said Mary
Furlong, CEO of Third Age Media. “With such a large number of people crossing
this threshold every day there is an unprecedented need for new information
and peer connection to make sense of this new time of life–a time coming to
be known as the Third Age. Our partnership with AOL puts these tools in the
hands of millions more Third Agers.”
According to a March, 1997 Nielsen/CommerceNet report, the number of Internet
users in North America has doubled to 50.6 million during the last year,
with an
estimated 14% to 19% (seven to nine million) of them 50 and older.
Recent studies have shown that a Third Ager is more likely to purchase online
than someone under age 29, Third Age said.