[Senior Biz Insight] Shift from Hardware to Content

Professor Kim Jeong-geun, Department of Silver Industry, Gangnam University

We live in a world dominated by content. OTT (Over-The-Top) providers such as Netflix, Disney Plus, TVING, and Wavve commonly offer various movies, dramas, music, and other content through online platforms. In a society where diverse content can be easily consumed as long as there is an internet connection, the ability to produce unique and quality content has become a survival strategy for OTT companies.

Is content only important for OTT providers? As elements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and big data accelerate changes in industrial structures, the senior business sector has already undergone digital transformation. Content has become an essential factor for survival rather than a choice. We have reached an era where if companies do not painstakingly create content that captivates the elderly, they cannot survive in the competition.

In 2015, Rendever in the United States started as a company providing VR (Virtual Reality) devices and content for seniors. They began offering services that show videos, photos, and road views from platforms like YouTube and Google Maps through VR to elderly people who have difficulty with physical activities. Rendever became a representative company that introduced the new technology of VR into the silver industry sector to help alleviate social isolation among seniors and improve their mental health and quality of life.

However, after Rendever initially rented and sold VR devices to silver towns and day care centers, many institutions returned the devices after about a month of use. The reason was simple: after using it for about a month, there was no more content to watch, meaning no new content, so they canceled the service. Since then, Rendever has hired many content creators and started producing various new programs every month, such as travel, games, and exercise, providing a list of new programs like a video OTT provider.

Kyle Rand, CEO of Rendever, whom the author met, now defines Rendever not as a VR device company for seniors but as a content company. For example, on White Day, Rendever collaborated with a famous bakery in Boston, USA, to film the process of making sweet cookies and provided it as VR content to members. They also create and update videos related to local festivals and sports events that interest seniors. Recently, real-time VR content (RendeverLive) including expert explanations on travel, meditation, and painting is provided monthly by date and time, and it was introduced as one of the best inventions by Time magazine in 2021.

In Korea, companies developing VR content centered on healthcare for seniors are emerging. Currently, development focuses on health management content such as rehabilitation training and dementia prevention, but when expanded to lifestyle content that seniors can enjoy and experience in daily life, it could grow into a senior business.

RendeverLive meditation-related content by day of the week. Source=Rendever website

The importance of content in senior business is not limited to digital-related industries. Content development and expansion are also crucial in hardware-centered senior businesses related to silver towns. A business must have content that makes senior residents feel happiness in their later years as much as impressive building designs and convenient facilities. The world-famous retirement community Sun City in Arizona, USA, is not just about its eight golf courses and swimming pools. It operates a woodworking shop for residents where they can make chairs and desks themselves with only material costs and gift or sell them. It also offers counseling and encouragement programs for those who have lost loved ones. The driving force that helps residents feel a sense of belonging and maintain and develop the community is not the 'hardware' but the 'content.'

A woodworking shop operated by the Sun City retirement community. Source=Sun City Woodworking Club Facebook

Another example, which does not exist in Korea but does in the U.S., is the Nationally Occurring Retirement Community (NORC). Commonly called NORC, it is a form of senior housing where the existing residents age naturally, and the area transforms into a senior residential complex. Seniors pay a certain membership fee to create and use necessary content within the community, making it a sustainable, self-sufficient senior housing complex. The advantage is that seniors can use needed services in their current living area without moving to a silver town, which is worth exploring in Korea. Recent studies show that about 100 or more residential services are provided in U.S. NORCs depending on local characteristics. Various residential service content such as shared vehicle operation, shared spaces, health and medical services, hobbies and leisure activities, housekeeping support and home repairs, and pet care services have been added to the existing hardware of residential spaces, transforming ordinary residential complexes into desirable places to live in old age.

By 2025, when Korea will enter a super-aged society, the senior business must shift focus from hardware-centered approaches to developing and utilizing content that satisfies seniors' desires and improves their quality of life in later years. Unique content that cannot be found elsewhere has become the key to success in the senior business.

Junggeun Kim, Professor, Department of Silver Industry, Gangnam University