The 35 to 44 year old group will account for almost 20% of total devices online, stated research firm, mobileSQUARED. The 45 to 54 year olds will be second with a 19% share, followed by 25 to 34 year olds with 18%, the 55-64 year olds at 16%, and the 18 to 24 year olds bringing up the rear with 13%. Users aged under 18 and over 65 account for the remaining 14%.
However, the landscape changes dramatically when the frequency of usage is examined a bit closer, said mobileSQUARED. According to the latest forecasts from its Mobile Consumer Trends database, mobileSQUARED said there will be approximately three million people aged 18 to 64 who use mobile as their ‘primary form’ of internet access by the end of the fourth quarter this year. Of these, the 25 to 34 demographic is most active, accounting for almost 31% of the total, followed by, 18 to 24 year olds with 24%. The 55 to 64 year olds account for just 7% of the total.
Conversely, the occasional 3.1 million ‘monthly users’ aged 18 to 64 will be dominated by the 55 to 64 year olds, accounting for 30% of the total, while the 18 to 24 year olds make up just 10%.
mobileSQUARED noted that the fact that younger people are heavier users of the mobile internet on a more frequent basis than older is not that surprising, but the middle ground is much more mixed.
Almost 60% of mobile internet users aged 18 to 64 will access content ‘at least once per day’, with a fairly even split of 22% each across the three age ranges covering 25 to 54. The 18 to 24 year olds account for 15% of daily users, with 55 to 64 year olds on 19%. ‘Weekly users’ aged 18 to 64 are led by 35 to 44 year olds, followed by 45 to 54 year olds, then 55 to 64 year olds, 25 to 34 year olds and then the 18 to 24 year olds, the research showed.