Over half of the American population views videos online, and many are doing so via mobile. According to new research by eMarketer, projected growth will bring US online video viewers to 60% of the general population and 76% of internet users by 2015.
Audience growth will be pronounced among preteen children, older boomers and seniors. Discussing online video viewing demographics, eMarketer senior analyst Paul Verna says that “…the gaps will start to close as the market matures.”
Are online video viewers watching premium content? eMarketer estimates indicate viewers are doing so more frequently:
- Nearly half – 49% – of US adult online video viewers watched full-length TV shows on the web at least monthly this year
- this number will rise to nearly 63% by 2015
- 37% of US adult online video viewers are downloading/streaming at least one film per month in 2011
- this number is expected to rise to over half – 54% – in 2015
Just 1 in 5 (20%) of online video viewers watched via mobile in 2010, but this number is projected to double (to 40%) by 2015. And nearly one-quarter of the general US population will be watching videos via mobile in 2015.
Fully 90% of the mobile video watching population is composed of smartphone viewers; by 2015, this percentage will rise to nearly 99%. eMarketer attributes the rapid projected growth of mobile video adoption to:
- the ongoing strength of the smartphone market
- healthy competition among makers of mobile operating systems (iOS vs. Android)
- the continuity of content offerings across screens
Looks like viral videos are here to stay, and there will be plenty of marketing opportunities via online and mobile video in the next few years.
eMarketer estimates come from “a meta-analysis of survey and study data from dozens of research sources as well as trend data on device ownership and usage.”
