Analysis: Older People Fastest Growing Online Segment in the UK

Authored by Heather Hopkins on May 18, 2007 - 11:14am.

I realise it is risky to refer to those aged 55+ as "silver surfers" but it strikes me as a better term than "cotton tops" my parents' favoured label. In any case, it seems that those aged 55+, so-called silver surfers, are set to overtake 35-44 year olds as the demographic age group representing the largest share of UK Internet visits. Those aged 55+ represented 22.0% of UK visits to all categories of websites in the four weeks to 12th May 2007, up 54% since 2005 and 40% since 2006. This compares to 23.5% of Internet visits from 35-44 year olds.
Age Group Breakdown.png

The increase has come from rich and poor alike. The Experian Mosaic groups Twilight Subsistence (pensioners subsisting on meagre incomes) and Grey Perspectives (pensioners enjoying retirement with savings to supplement their pensions) have both increased their online footprint. Internet visits from Twilight subsistence are up 29% over the past two years and visits from Grey Perspectives are up 30%.
Mosaic Group Breakdown.png

Among the top categories visited by those aged 55+, Search Engines, Adult and Shopping & Classifieds are the favourites, and are consistent with the most visited categories overall. The Telegraph reported this data yesterday pointing out that desire for salacious content does dwindle with age. Silver surfers show a particular fondness for Travel and News and Media websites, with these categories ranking higher among silver surfers. Last week, 27% of visits to Travel websites and 24% of visits to News and Media websites were from those aged 55+.

Money and leisure pursuits are more interesting to silver surfers than other demographic groups. Cruise, Family, Stocks and Shares, E-Greetings and Yachting and Boating websites receive the highest concentration of visits from silver surfers. Cruise websites, for example, received 48% of their traffic from UK Internet users aged 55+ in the four weeks to 12th May 2007.

Wealthy Groups Still More Active Online
Perhaps unsurprising but worth mentioning, comparing the percentage of UK Internet visits by Mosaic Group with the size of each group in the offline population reveals that the wealthiest groups are more active online than their less well-off counterparts. In particular, Symbols of Success and Urban Intelligence, which are among the groups most likely to earn a household income in excess of £50,000, are 22% and 31% overrepresented online. The groups Twilight Subsistence and Municipal Dependency, which are among the most likely to earn a household income of less than $7,4999, are 37% and 34% underrepresented online.

Heather Hopkins

Heather Hopkins is VP of Research for Hitwise UK. This piece was first posted on Hitwise Analyst blog here.