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YouTube Indicates What the Future is For Audiophiles - Interesting Demographics.

Howdy,

I just wanted to share some data from YouTube as I found it quite eye-opening and thought some of you might too.

I've posted a couple vids on YouTube recently and, as some will know, YouTube provides analytics data with every video, which is available to the channel owner.

The first video featured a Krell KSA 80 amp and at the time of writing this there have been 9,500 views:

Female - 0%
Male - 100%

13–17 years 0%
18–24 years 0%
25–34 years 0%
35–44 years 0.9%
45–54 years 13.5% 
55–64 years 44.4%
65+ years 41.3%

So, 100% male, and pretty much all of the traffic is from guys 45 years old and above, with 40%+ from guys over 65!!

The second video was a spoof (song) on Audiophiles that was shared a lot and watched by a lot of audiophile spouse, so the stats were slightly different, but not much. At the time of writing, 18,150 views:

Female 2.4%
Male 97.6%

13–17 years 0%
18–24 years 0%
25–34 years 0%
35–44 years 5.9%
45–54 years 18.6%
55–64 years 35.5%
65+ years 40.1%

The video was watched by a few females because it was shared and hit with a slightly younger audience but not by much. For all intents and purposes, the stats are the same for both vids.

Caveat - YouTube tends to attract an older audience and it's tipped up towards males. TikTok would show different results, but I think YouTube is really the platform of choice for most of us, so the data is more pertinent. 

Conclusion - we're a dying breed. 40% of us will be dead in a few years and there's not many 'yoots' coming through to replace us.

No real surprise here but we're all blokes - old, fat, sweaty, bearded, and about to kick the proverbial bucket. (Yes, I'm speaking entirely for myself).

Do you think there's more that manufacturers, dealers, reviewers etc. should be doing, or is it just the inevitable playing out?

Thoughts?

Here's the link to the two vids for reference: 
Krell KSA80
The Audiophile Song

128x128rooze
rooze's avatar
rooze OP
624 posts
 

@onhwy61 - I have. Several. In fact, the second video for which I showed the stats in the OP was a trendier and more modern video, actually a song set to a soft rap beat. I was hoping to catch a younger more diverse audience with that, but I didn’t as you can see from the stats. 50% of all the traffic to that video came from external audiophile forums, Facebook high-end groups etc. And with the internal YouTube traffic, the ’audiophile’ theme dominated the search terms used to find the video in YT search, and the videos chosen automatically by YT from which to suggest it to new viewers.

So it’s the same basic set of stats for two very different vids. As soon as you mention ’audiophile’ or ’high-end audio’, all the old blokes come out to play. It’s always been our problem, connecting with the younger crowds, and with women, but in the past we’ve somehow managed to keep replenishing the pool. Now, it looks like nothing new is coming through...

PS - I think the portable Bluetooth loudspeaker demographic are doing okay, they're not the focus here, but are certainly the present and future.

czarivey
5,917 posts
 

Many people getting smarter at young age. That's what statistics reflecting.

grislybutter
2,802 posts
 

people who are 30 today will be 45 some day (I don’t have the exact numbers on when) and will buy high end audio stuff.

The End

 

rsf507
2,298 posts
 

What a shocker! I had no clue....

mulveling's avatar
mulveling
1,851 posts
 

This has always been a vastly male dominated hobby. That's not a problem IMO, and it's unnatural to try and force otherwise. The age problem is extremely concerning, though it's not like this hasn't been telegraphed for ages. Other cultures (especially Asians) seem to have less of a problem here. The hifi headphone segment has less of a problem too, but it's somewhat surprising / concerning this hasn't become a pipeline into traditional 2ch audiophilia. 

I'm mid-40s and originally bridged over to 2ch from headphones 20 years ago. If I were getting into the hobby today, I'd be extremely put off by the disparity of having to choose between amazing but now incredibly unaffordable gear made in USA / Japan / Europe, versus cheap mass-produced ChiFi (some of which is not so cheap anymore!). Where'd the "great stuff" in the middle go? The industry seems increasingly dominated by these 2 poles. 

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