'I'm 96 and have 15 million followers': The grannies taking over TikTok
Older creators offer "deeply established, highly loyal" communities with real purchasing power, marketers say.
The fastest-growing stars on TikTok are, increasingly, great-grandmothers. Lillian Droniak — better known to 15 million followers as Grandma Droniak — is 96 and posts party videos and brand partnerships with food and beauty companies; she has said her earnings cover the $12,000 (about £9,000) monthly fees for her nursing home. "I'm 96 and have 15 million followers," she told the BBC, part of a wave of older creators who have turned late-life charisma into serious media businesses.
Their approaches differ. Viv Truran, 82, from Cardiff, shows off colourful outfits, glasses and scarves to more than 800,000 followers and is deliberately selective, favouring local brands and charities such as Age UK. Grace Geramita — Nonna Gracie, 83 — cooks traditional Italian recipes for millions of followers and says she now earns more than in any previous job. Barbara Costello, 77, runs the "Brunch with Babs" accounts, where her cooking and homemaking tips have led followers to call her "the mom I never had".
Why brands are paying attention
Marketing analysts say the appeal is commercial as much as cultural. Naomi Barker of the agency We Are Social told the BBC that older creators command "deeply established, highly loyal" communities with greater purchasing power than typical influencer audiences — a combination that "carries a massive premium" with advertisers. She added that TikTok grannies "offer comfort in an uncertain world", functioning as a kind of "virtual grandma" for young followers far from home. For the creators themselves, fame has brought both income and, in several cases, a new lease on public life.
Source and attribution
This report is based on the BBC's interviews with the creators. Follower counts and earnings figures are as stated by the creators and the agency cited, and change over time.
