Reseachers Simba Information have published a report entitled, "Overview of the US Comic Book and Graphic Novel Market 2009-2010." The most startling findings is that they claim 25% of the comic reading public is over the age of 65. So are we all presuming to know the market and forgetting the silver joy riders and labelling as children's book category?The interesting thing we can’t gleam for the press release is what will happen as these comics go omline and digital and will the same demographic split exist or shift?
It is easy to dismiss the older generation and believe that it is all about the young but with an aging population and greater time, acceptance of new technology and disposable income, the silver surfers are a force that should be focused on and not brushed aside.
press release
1 comment:
That doesn't surprise me at all. I started reading comics in the 1970s, so I have seen all the changes in the industry throughout the last few decades. Most of the times I have been in comic stores over the past 10 years I have noticed that the customers are all adult men, particularly middle-aged ones. I'm 43, so I fit squarely in that demographic.
Individual issues of printed comics are not what kids tend to look for these days, particularly with the unreasonably high prices on them. They are more apt to pick up a graphic novel or read webcomics online. Much of the time the older guys are the ones who got hooked on comics before Internet, and even back when individual issues of comics were rationally priced (before that horrid speculator boom in the mid 1980s.
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