AARP is launching a new online network to chase the Silver dollar.

According to this article in AdWeek, the group has built a network consisting of AARP.org and more than 600 complementary sites, like Oxygen.com and Grandparents.com, that it says will reach 40 million boomers. Using a data management platform, AARP says it can further slice and dice that audience by characteristics like age, gender, income, and buying behavior to meet advertisers’ goals.

But beauty tends to be print-centric, and technology companies still aim younger, even though older consumers have been shown to be heavy spenders on tech.

Age-segmented media don’t seem to have fared well around the world. However, if a media buy can pull together the varied interests of an older consumer and present it as age-neutral content to boomers and beyond in a targeted way,, therein lies the recipe for success.

We looked into creating a SilverNetwork – an Asia media network reaching 50+ across SE Asia – but the reach numbers just didn’t make it practical at the time. I also wonder with engines like Google, Yahoo which can target specific demographics, is there in fact a need anymore?