I might be exaggerating (but I don’t think so) but in every TV commercial break there’s at least one spot that uses 60’s or 70’s music as a background, occasionally foreground as a major part of the ad. The rights to do this do not come cheap (as the headline catalog sales we’ve been reading about demonstrate).

* * * AND * * *

If you grew up with the music of the 60’s and 70’s, you are likely between 60 and 80. So the agencies will commission the music, but then try to play it for people outside that demographic. Makes no sense. Then again, advertising never did.

It makes a ton of sense, because of two words in your post:

Tee Vee.

If you're watching TV, you're probably old. Real old. TV is for old people. The median age for someone watching prime time TV - broadcast or cable - is 64.6 years old:

hollywoodreporter.com - Tv viewers oldest audiences

Old, old, old. That's why the music in TV commercials is aimed at us old people. Because the TV audience totally fits the music you're describing. Moreover, whatever TV you're watching is probably TV that you fit the demographic for. Since you're perhaps slightly older than median, the shows you're watching probably skew a little older than even that old median age.

If TDS now has a younger audience, that's a recent phenomenon. At the beginning of Stewart's return, the median age of broadcast viewers was...63.3 years old:

yahoo.com - Holy crap look small old

Old.

Now then, I've seen stories about how the younger generation is also starting to have an interest in music from the past because it is free from AI and commercialism and seems more authentic to them. But honestly, I think it's just that TV is for the old.