New data shows that contrary to people that quote older studies, boomers are increasingly consuming online video, according to eMarketer. The average age of an adult that streams online video is just under 40 years old. That's about 5 years younger than the average Internet user.
"This is a case of reporting not quite catching up to reality," says Mr. Hallerman. Earlier research for 2004 and 2005 from the Pew Internet & American Life Project and Princeton Survey Research Associates found that 58% of those who download videos were age 28 or younger. Mr. Hallerman says that "this is the kind of older data that appear to still be informing too many reporters' views."
As online marketers, we do need to understand the relevance of current data. We need to be careful to confirm, especially if we're making important decisions based upon that information.
A good rule of thumb is to know that early adopters will be younger, but as they experiment and get the word out, others start to join in and an older audience will start partaking in the experience. I don't mean just online video here, but technology in general.
Once the techies dabble in it, companies then start to make things easier to use so that more mature users will use it as well. It's not because they couldn't figure it out, it's because they don't want to take the time to do too much messing around with something. They want to use it now and only have a step or two involved to work it. Time is more valuable as people age, and they put a premium on it.
That's why video uploading sites have been so popular, as all you have to do is click a couple of buttons and you've got it taken care of.
Overall we need to keep updated on our information and know that for the most part anything delivered today will be used by a younger audience at first, and then gradually filter to the general population later. It's important to understand this in our marketing efforts.
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