The news: Traditional offline advertising commands the most trust among US adults 55 and older, but digital channels are gaining influence over what they buy, per CivicScience.

• 42% of the cohort say their purchases are swayed by at least one digital channel—including sponsored search results, email ads, and webpage links—up 6 percentage points from 2024.
• In the past two years, social ads have overtaken search as the most impactful digital format, encouraging 35% of purchases.

Although digital’s effects on purchase behavior are growing, 3 in 10 respondents continue to cite print and TV as the most trustworthy ad formats.

What it means: There’s an opportunity to unite traditional and digital channels, rather than shifting budgets wholesale from one to another. Because impact on trust and purchase decisions happens across digital touchpoints, marketers should think less about how the channels compete and more about the role each plays in the buyer journey.

Gen Xers’ and baby boomers’ affinity for brand familiarity, clear messaging, authentic customer reviews, and product relevance means that simply repurposing campaigns designed for younger audiences and extending targeting upward won’t work.

Recommendations for brands: Strategies that target older, often high-spending consumers disproportionately with print and other traditional channels may leave reach and influence on the table.

• Use traditional media to build familiarity and trust and navigate fragmented paths to purchase.
• Design social, search, email, and creator marketing to encourage consideration and purchases.
• A/B test creative for specific audiences’ stated priorities and research case studies on how separate cohorts react to different content.