Yet Another Reason For Comics To Go Digital: 40 Is The New 15
For years, comics executives have quietly worried that the comics audience is aging out. We’ve been seeing surveys year after year showing that the average age of a comic book reader has been moving up year by year, leading many to conclude that we haven’t been bringing younger readers in– and thereby causing a lot of panic.
But that may not be the conclusion to draw at all.
According to a survey of 1,200 households compiled by the Entertainment Software Association, the average videogame player is now 37 years old, and the average buyer is 41. In fact, 29% of players are over 50. And the average gamer has been playing for 12 years. 42% of them are women.
Those demographics are disturbingly close to the comic book reading audience in general, and to ComicMix in particular– 32% of our readers are between the ages of 35 and 44, and 29% of our readers are over 45. We do tend to skew male, though, with 67% of our readers being male.
The study also notes that as games become ubiquitous on all platforms, especially smart phones, more players could eventually make that demo younger, considering games are now played, in some form, by 72% of American households, stealing away audiences from TV shows and movies, the trade group said.
With such similar demographics, DC’s move to focus so much on digital platforms, both the day-and-date reboot this fall and the DC Universe Online MMORPG, make a lot of sense– they want part of that $25.1 billion on game content, hardware and accessories that consumers spent in 2010.
Something to consider as everybody goes out to E3 this week.
That’s sort’ve the catch-22 of comics… They keep wanting the illusive “new reader” that doesn’t really exist, and in the meantime seem content to somewhat alienate the long-time fans, who have already grown up with comics, and are the only ones with the incomes to be able to still afford the habit.
I actually budget for my comics. Not tightly, not without wiggle room to grow if new, exciting things come out. But it’s a measured part of my income, it goes right along with my normal bills, like cable and internet, as a form of entertainment. Comics aren’t an impulse buy for me. They’re a regular, weekly purchase. I actively go to my Local Comic Shop. I investigate new comics as they’re listed in Previews, and read online reviews and articles. I listen to comic podcasts. I may be more of a hardcore fan than most, but the $20-30 I spend shouldn’t be ignored for the still fictional new reader that no one has even discovered how to attract. They still don’t even advertise comics outside of comics themselves. How do you make that work?
Further, when I want to invest in a new technology, I can, on my own terms, with my own cash. That goes from buying a tablet or ebook reader on down to actually buying the apps and books that come with it. I don’t have a parent occasionally throwing me their credit card as a “keep them occupied on the car trip” incentive.
I do believe that comics need to be open for both types of reader, and I think it strengthens the industry as a whole to be diverse. But it really seems like I hear and read more and more how the major publishers want to tailor their lines towards new readers more and more, and never talk about how to retain current readers.