Digital Meld

As Hulu nears its one year anniversary some weird numbers are coming at us via The Wall Street Journal.

When the company launched its public site last March, the largest age group visiting the site were those Internet visitors over 55 years old, accounting for 47% of all site visits, while traditionally younger early adopters accounted for only 17% of traffic.

What? This can’t be right. , my mom wouldn’t know how to pronounce it much less find it on the interwebs, unless AOL had it bookmarked for her. The article continues its wackiness with explaining how it came to be.

It later became clear that what first appeared to be a data anomaly was the result of Hulu.com’s very Web 1.0 launch strategy, which used articles in the New York Times and other newspapers to attract viewers. As a result, after its release in October 2007, more than 20% of Hulu’s traffic came from newspaper Web sites. The largest age demographic for visitors to print news Web sites is older Internet users over the age of 55.

Ah of course! I haven’t read anything in printed form since I discontinued my Sports Illustrated subscripted over the Houston Rockets Championship debacle in 1994. Hulu is certainly gaining ground, and is frequently used by the people I know… and following Super Bowl Sunday’s ad on February 1st, the world apparently knew about this hidden gem.

On Monday, Feb. 2, it garnered 2.5% of all visits to the category, claiming the No. 4 position behind YouTube, Google Video and MySpace Video, according to Hitwise.

All signs no longer point to Hulu being for old people, as its seems like things have normalized.

Nearing the one-year anniversary of its public launch, Hulu’s age demographics have begun to normalize with 25- to 34-year-olds taking over as the largest age group, with 29.2% of all visits signaling that Hulu may be entering its mass adoption phase. For the month of January 2009, on a percentage basis, Hulu had a stronger base of 25- to 44-year-olds, when compared to YouTube, while 18- to 24-year-old YouTube users outnumbered Hulu’s by two to one.

We shall see where this power leads to and what rival sites from CBS and TV.com will have on the success of Hulu. But for now know that the world is watching Family Guy episodes just like you.