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Demo-Graphics: Comic Fandom on Facebook – US Edition

Posted on March 8, 2021 by Brett

Demo-Graphics is back! We’re looking at where the “comic fans” stand when it comes to demographic details as of March 1st!

What is Demo-Graphics?

Each month I dive into data from Facebook looking at the various demographics it can tell us about comic fans. This isn’t hard numbers but best used to show trends in the industry and the potential of the market out there. This has shown the shift towards women being a major force in readers and a shift to the younger demographic.

How does it work?

We use key terms, “likes”, that users have indicated and have come up with our own set to measure each month. There’s over 50 terms used (and no I won’t release them). We stick to specific terms for the industry such as “comics” and “graphic novels” and “one-shots” as well as publishers and leave out broad terms like specific characters or stories. Just because someone likes Batman doesn’t mean they like comics.

Other things to know…

This data is important in that it shows who the potential comic audience could be. These are not purchasers, these are people who have shown an affinity for comics and are potential purchasers and those with an interest.

Also, with this being online/technology, due to laws and restrictions, those under the age of 13 are underrepresented.

Since the last time this feature was run, Facebook has made adjustments as to what it can report so some data is no longer available and we’ve also added in new data that hasn’t been reported before (but some of it has been tracked over the years).

Facebook Population: Around 60 million in the United States

Last month, we reported around 67 million. Things have dipped over the month with women making up about 31 million and men 29 million.

The Spanish-speaking population last month was 13.58%, that number has remained improved over the month to 14.00%.

NEW: Comics focused on kids has been an explosive area of growth over the years. The data tells us that 21.67% of comics fans are parents, that’s 13 million individuals! The number of parents remained the same but with a smaller population, the percentage increased.

Gender and Age

Women have been a majority for a long time in this reporting. They continue to be exactly that accounting for 51.67% of the comic fans down from last month’s 52.24%. Men accounted for 47.76% last month and now account for 48.33%. Women regularly became the majority of the fandom back in October 2017 when we first saw a 50/50 split in the demographics.

Facebook still is not good about placing gender in a binary, but it’s still a goal to better report beyond just the two regularly listed.

As we can see by the numbers below, women do slip as the majority from around age 22 to 33.

Relationship Status

Things have remained relatively steady over the month but there has been some changes from the previous month.

How has things changed?

Those who have marked themselves “single” decreased about 1 million
Those that are “engaged” decreased by 100,000
Those “in a relationship” decreased 500,000
“Married” has decreased by 1 million
Other statuses shifted in numbers but their percentages remained mostly unchanged.

Facebook demographics relationship status 3.1.21

Education

Things remained steady with decreases as expected due to the smaller population. Things decreased across the board and none of it stands out.

NEW – Political Leaning

Facebook is a data trove of political information. While I regularly tracked the information, I have never reported on the political leanings of the comic fans there. Well, here’s the third such release of the data!

Comic book demographics political leanings March 1, 2021.

But what about the gender of those comic fans?

Comic book demographics political leanings by gender March 1, 2021.

We can see, according to this data that comic fans lean more liberal. There are some interesting differences in that Conservatives are dominated by men while those Liberal and Moderate see women as a majority. Moderates especially see more women than men, even more so than liberals. We’ll see how this shifts over the months and years with the flow of American politics.

That’s it! Or, not… we’ll be back as we see the European statistics!

Demo-Graphics: Comic Fandom on Facebook – European Edition

Posted on February 26, 2021 by Brett

We hinted at the return of some long-shelved regular features on the site, and the first back is Demo-Graphics! Earlier this month, we ran the statistics for comic fans within the United States and today (after a bit of a delay) we’re back with the second reporting of statistics from Europe!

What is Demo-Graphics?

How does it work?

Other things to know…

Also, with this being online/technology, due to laws and restrictions, those under the age of 13 are underrepresented.

Facebook Population: Over 100,000,000 in Europe

That’s an increase of 2 million compared to the previous month. That’s 33 million more individuals compared to what I reported for the United States earlier this week.

Gender and Age

Interestingly, men account for the majority of fans. They account for 51.0% of the population compared to 50% of women. That’s a flip of the statistics in the United States where women are the majority. When looking at the data broken down by ages, women are a slight majority with about 2 million more individuals. So, it’s best to probably think of this fandom as pretty split between men and women.

There can be issues when breakdowns like this are close on Facebook as the app tends to round up and down with large numbers causing discrepancies and results greater than 50%.

Similar to the previous month, things remain the same with men becoming a slim majority in the age 22-25 age group and then lose it in the 34-37 age group. It’s a similar statistic to the United States.

Europe Facebook Gender Age February 2021

Relationship Status

Compared to last month’s results things have changed slightly. While the overall population grew about 2 million, these stats increased about 1.4 million.

Highlights:

“In Relationship” increased by 200,000
“Unspecified” increased by 1 million
“Domestic Partnership” increased by 10,000
“Divorced” increased by 10,000
“Widowed” increased by 10,000

Facebook demographics relationship comic fans in Europe 1.1.21

Education

Things remain pretty steady when it comes to education. The percentages remain pretty much unchanged.

Up next, we’ll compare the two groups of comic fans!

Demo-Graphics: Comic Fandom on Facebook – US Edition

Posted on February 1, 2021 by Brett

We hinted at the return of some long-shelved regular features on the site, and the first back is Demo-Graphics!

What is Demo-Graphics?

How does it work?

Other things to know…

Also, with this being online/technology, due to laws and restrictions, those under the age of 13 are underrepresented.

Facebook Population: Around 67 million in the United States

Last month, we reported around 70 million. Things have dipped over the month with women making up about 35 million and men 32 million.

The Spanish-speaking population last month was 13.29%, that number has remained improved over the month to 13.58%.

NEW: Comics focused on kids has been an explosive area of growth over the years. The data tells us that 19.4% of comics fans are parents, that’s 13 million individuals! The amount of parents remained the same but with a smaller population, the percentage increased.

Gender and Age

Women have been a majority for a long time in this reporting. They continue to be exactly that accounting for 52.24% of the comic fans down from last month’s 52.86%. Men at accounted for 47.14% last month and now account for 47.76%. Women regularly became the majority of the fandom back in October 2017 when we first saw a 50/50 split in the demographics.

Facebook still is not good about placing gender in a binary, but it’s still a goal to better report beyond just the two regularly listed.

As we can see by the numbers below, women do slip as the majority from around age 22 to 33.

Comic book demographics gender February 1, 2021.

Comic book demographics gender and age February 1, 2021.

Relationship Status

Things have remained relatively steady over the month but there has been some changes from the previous month.

How has things changed?

Those who have marked themselves “single” decreased about 1 million
Those “in a relationship” decreased 300,000
“Unspecified” has increased 1 million
Other statuses shifted in numbers but their percentages remained mostly unchanged.

Comic book demographics relationship status February 1, 2021.

Education

Things remained steady from the previous month except for one “status”. “Some Grad School” over doubled from 160,000 to 330,000 individuals.

NEW – Political Leaning

Compared to last month, “Conservatives” dipped by about 200,000 individuals.

Comic book demographics political leanings February 1, 2021.

But what about the gender of those comic fans?

Comic book demographics political leanings by gender February 1, 2021.

We can see, according to this data that comic fans lean more liberal than the general Facebook population. There are some interesting differences in that Conservatives are dominated by men while those Liberal and Moderate see women as a majority. Moderates especially see more women than men, even more so than liberals. We’ll see how this shifts over the months and years with the flow of American politics.

That’s it! Or, not… we’ll be back tomorrow as we see the European statistics!

Demo-Graphics: Comic Fandom on Facebook – European Edition

Posted on January 7, 2021 by Brett

We hinted at the return of some long-shelved regular features on the site, and the first back is Demo-Graphics! On Monday, we ran the statistics for comic fans within the United States and today (after a bit of a delay) we’re back with the first reporting of statistics from Europe!

What is Demo-Graphics?

How does it work?

Other things to know…

Also, with this being online/technology, due to laws and restrictions, those under the age of 13 are underrepresented.

Facebook Population: Over 98,000,000 in Europe

That’s an increase of 8 million compared to the previous report that we ran in July 2018. That’s 28 million more individuals compared to what I reported for the United States earlier this week.

Gender and Age

Interestingly, men account for the majority of fans. They account for 51.02% of the population compared to 48.98% of women. That’s a flip of the statistics in the United States where women are the majority. When looking at the data broken down by ages, women are a slight majority though with 50.54%. The relationship statistics show men as the majority. We’ll have to see if this continues in the coming months and if not, figure out the disconnect between the three statistics.

Facebook demographics gender comic fans in Europe 1.1.21

Facebook demographics gender age comic fans in Europe 1.1.21

Relationship Status

Much like with the United States. I thought it’d be interesting to see how these statistics might have shifted. The overall population actually dropped over the two years, decreasing by about 5 million, even though the overall population has increased.

Other highlights:

“Single” individuals decreased by about 3 million
“In Relationship” decreased by 1.1 million
“Married” increased by 3 million
“Unspecified” decreased by 4 million

Education

For education, I did a look comparing some of the statistics for what I could find about Europe and it lines up pretty well. Compared to the previous reporting in 2018, the data hasn’t shifted much unlike the United States which saw a significant change.

Up next, we’ll compare the two groups of comic fans!

Demo-Graphics: Comic Fandom on Facebook – US Edition

Posted on January 4, 2021 by Brett

We hinted at the return of some long-shelved regular features on the site, and the first back is Demo-Graphics!

What is Demo-Graphics?

How does it work?

Other things to know…

Also, with this being online/technology, due to laws and restrictions, those under the age of 13 are underrepresented.

Facebook Population: Around 70 million in the United States

We last ran this report in October 2018 which saw over 73 million individuals reported. Things have dipped over the years but the amount of individuals is still massive. Men remained steady at 33 million while women dipped to 37 million over that time frame.

The Spanish-speaking population in October 2018 was 13.7%, a little over 2 years later, that number has remained relatively the same at 13.29%.

NEW: Comics focused on kids has been an explosive area of growth over the years. The data tells us that 18.75% of comics fans are parents, that’s 13 million individuals!

Gender and Age

Women have been a majority for a long time in this reporting. They continue to be exactly that accounting for 52.86% of the comic fans compared to men at 47.14%. Women regularly became the majority of the fandom back in October 2017 when we first saw a 50/50 split in the demographics.

Facebook still is not good about placing gender in a binary, but it’s still a goal to better report beyond just the two regularly listed.

As we can see by the numbers below, women do slip as the majority from around age 22 to 33.

Comic book demographics gender January 1, 2021.

Comic book demographics gender and age January 1, 2021.

Relationship Status

The relationship status is one I’ve been intrigued to see how it’s changed over the 2 years since last reported. Would we see a major shift as people age? Would it remain steady? Well, lets find out!

There was a major drop in people reporting their relationship status as it turns out. While the population overall shrunk by about 3 million individuals there were almost 8 million fewer individuals reporting this piece of data.

How has things changed?

Those who have marked themselves “single” decreased about 3 million
Those “in a relationship” decreased 1.7 million
“Married” has remained the same
“Unspecified” has decreased 3 million
Other statuses shifted in numbers but their percentages remained mostly unchanged.

Comic book demographics relationship status January 1, 2021.

Education

Out of all of the statistics, this is the one I’m trying to figure out. Almost all percentages for education level listings are down. This could be due to it just not being as common a thing or there’s been a shift in the populace. The only percentage to increase are those “in high school”.

NEW – Political Leaning

First up, what does this data look like for Facebook as a whole?

Interestingly, Facebook leans a bit more Conservative with that population making up the largest block of users. Comic fans though are a bit different. Those identified as Liberal make up the majority

Comic book demographics political leanings January 1, 2021.

But what about the gender of those comic fans?

Comic book demographics political leanings by gender January 1, 2021.

We can see, according to this data that comic fans lean more liberal than the general Facebook population. There are some interesting differences in that Conservatives are dominated by men while those Liberal and Moderate see women as a majority. We’ll see how this shifts over the months and years with the flow of American politics.

That’s it! Or, not… we’ll be back tomorrow as we see the European statistics and then Thursday we dive in comparing the two!

Demo-Graphics: Comic Fandom on Facebook – US Edition

Posted on October 16, 2018 by Brett

Each month we run demographic data of comic “fans” based on data mined from Facebook.

This data is compiled using key terms, “likes,” users have as part of their profiles. Primarily terms are focused on generic ones such as “comics” or “graphic novels” or publishers. I stay away from specific characters, creators or series because this does not indicate they are a comic book fan. Over 100 terms are used for this report.

This data is important in that it shows who the potential comic audience could be. This is not purchasers, these are people who have shown an affinity for comics and are potential purchasers and those with an interest.

Also, with this being online/technology, due to laws and restrictions, those under the age of 13 are underrepresented.

Facebook Population: Over 73,000,000 in the United States

That’s an increase of 7 million from the previous month. Men and women each increased by 3 million individuals while those whose gender is not reported came in at 1 million..

The Spanish-speaking population last month was 12.73%, and this month the population has increased to 13.70%.

Gender and Age

Last month men accounted for 45.45% and women were 54.55%. This month Women account for 53.42% and men account for 45.21%. When looking at the data for ages men account for 46.39% and women are 53.88%. When it comes to relationship status men are 46.23% and women are 54.28%.

It’s been a full year since that women became the majority of fans. Things began to change in October when the universe was split 50/50 and they have continued to change since. These numbers tend to be ahead of noticeable changes in the industry we’ve seen an increase in the overall audience and dip so expect some gains and losses over months.

This month’s distribution of gender by age is similar to the previous months.

Relationship Status

The stats have relatively remained the same from the previous month when it comes to percentages. This is despite the larger overall population.

Education

And much like the relationship status, education remains relatively the same with a few changes here and there but most can be accounted for due to the larger overall population.

Ethnicity

African Americans and Hispanics each gained about one percentage point compared to the previous month. Asian Americans also saw an increased of about a quarter of a percent.

And that wraps up this month’s data. We’ll be back on the 15th for our first look at the European data of the year!

Demo-Graphics: Comic Fandom on Facebook – US Edition

Posted on September 4, 2018 by Brett

Each month I run demographic data of comic “fans” based on data mined from Facebook.

Also, with this being online/technology, due to laws and restrictions, those under the age of 13 are underrepresented.

Facebook Population: Over 66,000,000 in the United States

That amount remains steady from the previous year. Men did decrease by 1 million and women increased by 1 million from the previous month but that may be due to rounding as opposed to major shifts in population size.

The Spanish-speaking population last month was 12.73%, and this month the population has remained at 12.73%.

Gender and Age

Last month men accounted for 46.97% and women were 53.03%. This month Women account for 54.55% and men account for 45.45%. When looking at the data for ages men account for 45.29% and women are 53.99%. When it comes to relationship status men are 45.06% and women are 53.18%.

This is the eleventh month in a row that women are the majority of fans. Things began to change in October when the universe was split 50/50 and they have continued to change since. These numbers tend to be ahead of noticeable changes in the industry we’ve seen an increase in the overall audience and dip so expect some gains and losses over months.

This month’s distribution of gender by age is similar to the previous month’s.

Relationship Status

The population has remained the same and these stats have relatively remained the same as well from the previous month.

Education

And much like the relationship status, education remains relatively the same with a few changes here and there but most can be accounted for as rounding changes.

Ethnicity

Again, like the stats above, this one hasn’t shifted much at all. There’s some changes here and there but relatively the stats remain the same.

And that wraps up this month’s data. We’ll be back on the 15th for our first look at the European data of the year!

Demo-Graphics: Comic Fandom on Facebook – European Edition

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Brett

Each month I run demographic data of comic “fans” based on data mined from Facebook. Due to popular demand, I have split out and launched a “European edition” that runs during the middle of every month!

This data is compiled using key terms, “likes,” users have as part of their profiles. Primarily terms are focused on generic ones such as “comics” or “graphic novels” or publishers. I stay away from specific characters, creators or series, because this does not indicate they are a comic book fan. Over 100 terms are used for this report.

Also, with this being online/technology, due to laws and restrictions, those under the age of 13 are likely underrepresented. Europe also has some other data restrictions that will be discussed below.

Facebook Population: Over 90,000,000 in Europe

That’s a decrease of 7 million compared to the previous report and that month saw a decrease of 13 million individuals. That’s 24 million more individuals compared to what I reported for the United States in the beginning of the month.

Gender and Age

In the last report, women accounted for 51.55% while men accounted for 48.45%. This month things shifted. Men now account for 47.78% and women 52.22%.

When looking at the data for age, the breakdown is 51.96% women and 47.06% men and when looking at relationships, it’s 52.58% women and 47.75% men.

Similar to the previous month, things remain the same with men becoming a slim majority in the age 22-25 age group and then lose it in the 30-33 age group.

Relationship Status

The population has shrunk this month and we see that reflected here. What is interesting though is those “in relationship” have increased from the previous month mainly in women.

Education

And as I’d expect the amount of individuals has dropped while percentages have generally remained the same from the previous month.

And come back next month for a new look at the data on the 1st and 15th of the month!

Demo-Graphics: The State of DC Entertainment

Posted on August 5, 2018 by Brett

We’ve kicked off our yearly review of comic fandom demographics! We’ve already posted Facebook‘s general stats, and tomorrow will be Marvel, followed by Indie comics, and the industry as a whole. Up now is DC Entertainment.

This statistic breakdown, we’ve looked at terms like DC Comics and Vertigo Comics, but not specific comic series or characters. It’s a focus on DC Entertainment and its publishing imprints. Think of it as looking at the DC brand.

Facebook DC Comics Fan Population: Over 28,000,000 US

In the year since we’ve run these stats, the population has grown 5 million. In 2017 it stood at 23 million and 2016 it was 11 million individuals. In 2015 it was 12 million and in 2014 it was 7.6 million.

In 2014 Spanish speakers accounted for 14.55%, 2015 it was 14.17%, in 2016 it was 18.18%. 2017 the group shrunk to 12.86% but the population grew 1.6 million to 3.6 million individuals.

Gender and Age

In 2014, men accounted for 68.18% and women were 28.64% of the DC population. In 2015 men accounted for 73.33% and women were 27.50%. In 2016 56.36% of the population was male and 40% female. in 2017 it was women for 47.83% and men 52.17%.

In the year since, women are now 53.57% and men 46.43%, this follows the trend we’ve seen for the last ten months of women being the majority of comic fans

And here’s the stats in a handy pie-chart.

Unlike last year, men are at no point a majority. In facet women are over 60% of the fans under the age of 18. While we might not know why, there’s a chance DC Superhero Girls have helped grow that segment.

Relationship Status

The overall population has increased and so have most of the below. Those that haven’t have seen no change. There are some individual genders that have decreased though. Single men is an example and that decreased 200,000 while the overall population of that demographic grew 400,000.

Education

Much like the above, some increased and some decreased for specific genders.

Ethnicity

Every ethnicity has grown since last year. African American fans increased by 1.2 million. Asian Americans saw an increase of 110,000. Hispanics saw an increase of 1.1 million with each sub-group increasing as well.

Come back tomorrow when we’ll look at stats for Marvel!

Demo-Graphics: Facebook US Users

Posted on August 4, 2018 by Brett

Were continuing our year look at demographics of the comic industry and while we focus on comics, we need to see how Facebook has changed to better understand what has happened. It’s been a year since I last looked at the data, and much has changed.

We’ll also be using this data to see how things might impact the comic fan population, and how comic fans compare to the general Facebook population.

Unlike my other reports, this one focuses just on people who are on Facebook and located in the United States. No terms are used at all as far as likes, interests, etc.

Facebook Population: Over 240,000,000 in the United States

Since July of 2017, the population of Facebook users has increased by 9 million individuals. That’s much slower than the 33 million growth from 2016 into 2017. Of that, Spanish speakers now account for 13.33% with 32 million individuals. That’s down from 2017 which was 33 million or 14.29%.

Gender and Age

In 2014, men accounted for 45.56% and women were 53.33%. In 2015 it was 53.40% women and 46.07% men. In 2016 women accounted for 54.04% while men accounted for 45.45%. In 2017 women dipped to 52.38% while men account for 45.89%. In 2018 women continued to decrease in percent of population with 50% while men remained relatively steady with 45.83%.

In the United States as a whole, women account for 51%, while men are about 49%, that was as of the 2010 Census. So, Facebook skewers slightly less female.

We’ll next look at how the percentage of women and men break down through age. Men have become a majority from ages 26-29, the same as last year and there’s also more age ranges where the two demographics split 50/50.

Relationship Status

While the overall population increased, it doesn’t mean all of the below has. Many of the various groups have actually dipped from the previous year other than those “unspecified” which increased by 4 million.

Education

Much like relationships, even though the overall population increased it doesn’t mean that each of these groupings have. While there’s some, overall, it’s mixed like the above.

Ethnicity

The African American population increased since last year by about 4 million individuals and 1.15 percentage points. Asian Americans increased by 500,000 and 0.53 percentage points. Hispanics increased by 6 million and 1.96 percentage points.

Now that we know where Facebook as a whole stands, we’ll explore more specifics! Join us tomorrow when we start to dive into specific stats, up first DC Entertainment!

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