Doubt this as fact? Try a new report from Neilsen, which points to a fundamental shift in the age profile of the UK net population. Says the company:

“When looking at how a particular audience is composed by age, a change in share – even by just a few percentage points – actually represents quite a fundamental shift. Age compositions tend to evolve subtly over a number of years so to see such large changes in the course of just a year shows that the Internet population is undergoing a significant ageing process.”

That population now has fewer under-25s – 16% fewer, to be precise, if you measure it from October ’06 to October ’07. During the same period, the over-55s stormed the barricades, accounting for almost 20% of the whole audience (a whopping 22% rise).

Of course, this may not be so much a storming of the barricades so much as a natural by-product of the demographic shift. But it’s happening all the same, and Neilsen also points to the sites with the oldest audiences.

I know, I know, the tension’s killing you, so let’s just list the top 10 (averaging age in brackets):

• Marks & Spencer (46.5)
• National Lottery (44.9)
• John Lewis (44.9)
• BT (44.9)
• Nationwide (44.5)
• Ciao! (43.9)
• Friends Reunited (43.8)
• Tiscali (43.5)
• TUI (43.2)

We live in a strange society where the marketing departments of some of the those top 10 listed companies will see their inclusion as a disaster – it defines your brand as old, and that infers tired / wasted. Which is both short-sighted and, well, bloody stupid – the shift in average age is there because a 50-year-old today is far from over the hill. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I’m 44.