Affluent 30-Somethings are YouTube's Key Audience

Several internet research firms have data showing that a large number of YouTube users come from the wealthiest demographic in the U.S., the 35 to 65 age range.

Nielsen/Netratings found that 55 percent of YouTube users were between the ages of 35 to 64. Comscore looked only at U.S. YouTube visitors and found that 48 percent of them were in the 35 to 64 age category while Quantcast’s results put the number at 65 percent.

This comes as a surprise as it was previously assumed that the weird and whacky video content attracted a much younger audience.

The new data could be further cause for concern for television executives who have already seen the internet take a chunk of their audience. Now, it seems, they are could lose some of their most affluent viewers, which in turn could see advertisers cutting television budgets to plump up online purses. The new statistics go some way to make sense of the $1.65 billion price tag Google paid for YouTube.

The studies cited above were carried out over a one month period between May and August, 2006, all using differing methodologies.

Tags: 35-65 age group, baby boomers, Nielsen//NetRatings, online advertising, online video advertising, YouTube