A Study On The Strategies Of Developing TV Programs For The Aged

According to the statistics by the sixth national population census, by the end of November1st in2010, the Chinese population has already reached1,370,536,875, including177,648,705aged people who are over sixty. The aged population accounts for13.26%of the national population, which indicates that we are entering an aging society and the aging situation is still accelerating. Subsequently, the change of age structure will result in the change of the audience of mass media. With the increasing aging population, the number of elder audience will surge. When they are watching TV, they have physiological and psychological need of getting information and being served. In the present situation where ratings are too highly emphasized, TV programs which are popular with the audience at different ages are more favored by TV station. One famous German philosopher, Habermas claimed in one of his articles that " It’s necessary to save the mass media from the market mud and guarantee the freedom of news in a democratic country." Either with regard to the quantity or quantity, the present TV programs for the aged in our country can’t satisfy the need of the aged. Thus, how to handle such contradiction is our first priority as workers in television.This paper started with an analysis on the watching need of the elder audience under the background of population aging. Then the author did a research on the present development of Chinese television programs for the aged in the aspects of the living status, the content, the form, the arrangement. It is found out that there are only thirteen TV programs for the aged and only one professional channel for the aged in China. Besides, the current programs have many problems such as having the similar form, the repetition of topics, the lack of creativity and so on. Finally, based on the work experience in Ren Jian Wan Qing, a TV program for the elders in JiLin TV station, the author put forward several tentative suggestions and strategies for a better development of TV programs for the aged in China under4Vs marketing theory.