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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
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arhgef
55 posts
 

I have to strongly disagree. Old, bearded yes. Sweaty no. 

liquidsound's avatar
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liquidsound
153 posts
 

Interesting topic but one I suspect most of us are in line with.  There are exceptions to the age-related audiophile phenomenon. 

About 6 years ago, my daughter (now age 36) told me she was interested in vinyl.  Her first endeavor in audio was asking me to help her at age 30 put together a very modest system for listening so I did.  I gave her a pair of ZU Omen bookshelf speakers I had lying around, and bought her a small EL84 based integrated, gave her a Vincent phono preamp and she bought a low-end Rega turntable.  She was hooked...  When I recently retired and moved to a small cottage, I had no room for my vinyl collection and digital, so I gave her many of my jazz albums as she found that genre of music to her enjoyment and liking.  Now, she has ~ 75% of my vinyl and has broadened her listening to small ensembles, male and female vocalists and is really enjoying it.  2 years ago, she upgraded from her little integrated to a Pass-Labs XP-12 and Musical Fidelity power amp and immediately could tell the difference and improvement in sound.  Her next move will be a better phono preamp and turntable.  At this point, she wants to keep on this path, but she does have an interest in digital streaming.  So there are some "kids" out there who may carry the torch in Audiophiledom forward as we fade back in the halls of listening...  

markmoskow
40 posts
 

It’s cultural, as many comments say. Many 65+ were the buyers back in the 70s and 80s of higher end gear because we valued music, rock, jazz, blues, in a time when music was a leading cultural, social, even political art form. Not just physical media, we also put FM radio on the map: the receiver was integral. And we were in our 20s and 30s then. Some also still have hundreds if not thousands of books on shelves as well because up until about 1972, or maybe later, many writers had the same allure. We went to lots of movies too. Values, as far as the arts go, have changed generationally. Not just content, what bands people like, but the place music has in people’s lives. For many years, maybe since the 90s, with these huge stadium shows, it has been social, a gathering place, an event, not just GD and U2 and Bruce, but all sorts from rap to country to Swift, as opposed to a man and his stereo in his room. My kids laugh at me and my records, although my son in law was happy to get a cast off TT and speakers from me, maybe because he’s a musician, but more likely because times are tight and he would never spend the dough we did at that age for stuff.

 

 

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