Women Rule OK (Well, on the internet at least)

“The Internet is no longer dominated by young male adults. Times have changed considerably…. Companies who understand this composition when providing services or content through the web or simply advertising online will maximize their chances of success in the Internet of the future.”

Nielsen/NetRatings European Internet Analyst Alex Burmaster

So if young male adults no longer rule the online population in the UK, who does? According to Nielsen / NetRatings women aged 18-34 are now the most dominant group online in the UK. They make up 18% of the online population and account for one-fifth of all UK Internet time.

Even more surprising, one in four Britons online are at least 50 years old; “moreover, there are 1.7 times more 50+ year-olds than children under 18 who are active on the Internet.” It seems actually that those under 18 only account for 4% of all UK Internet time and spend only around 16 hours a month on the net. The most prevalent group, 18-34 year olds, conversely account for 32% of the UK Internet time and spend approximately 60 hours per month online. I find this quite surprising given the rise of social sites and the amount of young people using these. However, possibly those under 18 are all too busy texting and phoning their friends instead and / or playing computer games to bother with surfing the net.

It looks then to be good news for products targeted towards women aged 18-34 online in the UK but perhaps not as good news for those trying to target younger teenagers or children online, or ‘young male adults’.

I hope then that we don’t have a deluge of ‘Sheila’s Wheels’ banner ads or any other such products thrown at us every time we go online. I doubt it though, I well imagine this time next year we’ll find that another group have become the dominant users. For those who do want to target women online though, it would make sense to make hay while the sun shines.

The dominant UK online group is dead – long live the dominant UK online group! (Nothing to do with the fact that I’m a part of that group…)

You’ll find the full set of statistics here.