THE GRANNIES HAVE TAKEN OVER! Lillian Droniak, 96, known online as Grandma Droniak, has 15 million followers and earns enough from social media to cover her nursing home fees of $12,000 a month, the BBC reported.
She went viral in June after claiming her retirement home threatened to evict her for throwing parties. The home later confirmed it, then settled: she can keep partying, just not supply alcoholic drinks. “I always knew I had it in me to be famous, I just didn’t think it would happen in my 90s,” she said. Her grandson started helping her post in 2020, and the brand money also feeds a college fund for her great-grandchildren.
She’s not alone. Viv Truran, 82, from Cardiff, shows off her outfits, 22 pairs of glasses and two drawers of scarves to more than 800,000 followers, posting two videos a day and tracking her numbers in a notebook that’s now on book five. Grace Geramita, 85, aka Nonna Gracie, cooks for millions and now earns more than she did in any previous job. And 77-year-old former teacher Barbara Costello of Brunch with Babs says followers call her “the mom I never had”.
Why brands love them: older creators have “deeply established, highly loyal” communities with more purchasing power, which “carries a massive premium,” said Naomi Baker of agency We Are Social. Droniak’s own pitch is simpler: “They think old people just sit and stare at a wall but I’m showing it’s not that bad to get old.”
The only crowd not impressed? Her fellow residents. “They don’t get it as they don’t go on TikTok.”
Featured image: AI-generated editorial illustration by Bugle Blast.
Sources: BBC News
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