Changing Demographics of Tablet and eReader Owners

In the United States, as recently as the summer of 2010, tablet and eReader owners tended to be male and on the younger side. They were the classic "early adopters," in that sense. But the market is beginning to move beyond the early adopters.

According to Nielsen Company’s latest quarterly survey of mobile connected device owners, this is no longer  the case.

Older users and female users now are starting to adopt both e-readers and tablets at rates that are starting to better reflect their presence in the general population.

In some cases, usage matches, or exceeds, a group's presence in the overall population.

Back in the third quarter of  2010, for example, 62 percent of tablet owners were under the age of 34 and only 10 percent were over the age of 55. By the second quarter of  2011, only 46 percent of tablet owners were under the age of 34 and the percentage of those over 55 had increased to 19 percent.

Looking at the data by gender underlines key changes in the e-reader category as well Some 61 percent of all e-reader owners are now female, compared to 46 percent in the third quarter of 2010.

In the more established smart phone category, owners are now almost evenly split between male and female, though tablet ownership remain primarily male. But 37 percent of tablet owners are 45 or older, up from 23 percent in the third quarter of 2010.

In fact, the demographic pattern of ownership of tablets just about mirrors that of the more-established smartphone category.

And 51 percent of e-reader owners are 45 or older, up from 40 percent in the third quarter of 2010.

Changing Demographics of Tablet and eReader Owners