Silver surfers 'to become largest UK online demographic'

22 May 2007

UK web users aged 55 and over will soon become the largest group online if current trends continue, it has been revealed.

The older generation made up 22 per cent of all UK website visits from April 16th to May 12th – an increase of 40 per cent on 2006 figures, reports research firm Hitwise.

And while the richer section of this audience were likely to be more prominent online, elderly web users on lower incomes have similarly increased their online presence by 29 per cent since 2005.

In comparison to the 22 per cent figure, 35 to 44-year-olds (the current leaders in terms of online representation) made up 23.5 per cent of internet visitors during the same four week period.

"Silver surfers show a particular fondness for travel and news & media websites, with these categories ranking higher among silver surfers.

Last week, 27 per cent of visits to travel websites and 24 per cent of visits to news & media websites were from those aged 55+," outlined Heather Hopkins, vice president of research for Hitwise, in a statement last week.

Ms Hopkins added that search engines and shopping sites remained the favourite online destinations for those aged 55 and over.

Earlier this month it was revealed that older web users were more likely than their younger counterparts to engage with social media websites.

Category: Miscellaneous