The expansion of the blogosphere into mass-market proportions is reflected in eMarketer's forecasts of the numbers of US bloggers and blog readers.
The number of people creating blogs in the US will reach over 35 million by 2012—roughly 16% of the Internet population.
More importantly, by 2012, more than 145 million people—67% of the US Internet population—will be reading blogs at least once a month. That
is up from a readership of 94 million in 2007, or 50% of Internet
users.
"Once a haven for techies to communicate with each other in their own lingo, blogs have long since shed this mantle and tapped into the zeitgeist of American culture," says Paul Verna, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, The Blogosphere: A Mass Movement from Grass Roots. "There are blogs for virtually everything under the sun, from celebrity gossip to political commentary to the most mundane personal minutiae."
All this attention is turning blogs into a business.
"Buoyed by these massive levels of consumer engagement," says Mr. Verna, "US blog advertising will reach $746 million in 2012, up from $283 million in 2007."
"A big factor driving the increases is the niche orientation of the blogosphere," says Mr. Verna.
Like podcasts, blogs tend to appeal to specific audiences. Accordingly, much of the demographic targeting that marketers work so hard to achieve in the mainstream media is already done for them.
"Furthermore," adds Mr. Verna, "the rates at which blog readers notice and click on ads suggest that they are a well-primed audience."
To learn more about the social and economic implications of blogging, download the new eMarketer report, The Blogosphere: A Mass Movement from Grass Roots, today.