October 08 2006

ComScore: half of MySpace users now over 35 years old

From teen hangout, to denizen of the mature users, MySpace's transformation changes our view of it as a possible advertising, trawling or social phenomenon.

ComScore's recent report shows that MySpace's users are now older. Given that the site's still growing, this change represents the arrival of the late (mature?) majority - rather than a flight of the "cool kids" in search of the Next New Thing.

The extent to which this is a harnessable marketing opportunity is moot, but in terms of monitoring customer behaviour, experiences and expectations it's an important development to note for online marketers.

Ian Jindal. ComScore's data is below: Composition of MySpace.com Visitors Now Skews Older An analysis of visitors to MySpace.com shows that as the site has experienced dramatic visitor growth, it has become more popular among older Internet users. The most significant shift has occurred among teens 12-17, who accounted for 24.7 percent of the MySpace audience in August 2005, but today represent a much lower 11.9 percent of the site's total audience. Conversely, Internet users between the ages of 35-54 now account for 40.6 percent of the MySpace visitor base, an 8.2 percentage point increase during the past year. ______________________________________________________________ Demographic Profile of Visitors to MySpace.com Percent Composition of Total Unique Visitors August 2006 vs. August 2005 Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations Source: comScore Media Metrix MySpace.com Percent Composition of Unique Visitors Aug-05 Aug-06 Point Change ------ ------ ------------ Unique Visitors (000) 21,819 55,778 Total Audience 100.0 100.0 0.0 Persons: 12-17 24.7 11.9 -12.8 Persons: 18-24 19.6 18.1 -1.4 Persons: 25-34 10.4 16.7 6.2 Persons: 35-54 32.4 40.6 8.2 Persons: 55+ 7.1 11.0 3.9 ______________________________________________________________ "As social networking sites have become mainstream, the demographic composition of MySpace.com has changed considerably. Last year half of the site's visitors were at least 25 years old, while today more than two-thirds of MySpace visitors are age 25 or older," continued Mr. Flanagan. "It will be interesting to monitor the shifts in Facebook's demographic composition that will undoubtedly occur as a result of the company's recent decision to open its doors to users of all ages." Source: ComScore press release.