Bookmark Vlog Blog
Aug
16
While it’s not surprising that compared to older segments of the population, young adults (18-29) are more likely to watch, upload, rate and comment on online videos, what comes as a surprise is that they are also more likely to pay for online video.
According to a recent Pew Internet survey, while only 7% of the population as a whole say that they have paid for online video, 10% of the 18-29 group say they have - the largest percentage of any of the group breakdowns in the Pew report.
The least likely group to pay for online video is older folks (aged 50-64). Perhaps they’ve already seen it all. Which raises a question, of course.
Exactly what are these 18-29 year olds paying to watch? It wouldn’t be hard to imagine that their “young adult” status might provide a clue. It also wouldn’t be hard to imagine that the male portion of that group is doing most of the buying. The report, however, doesn’t go into either of these questions … suspicions … um, allegations.
Another mild surprise is that 50-64 year olds are almost as likely to have watched online video as the 18-29 year olds — 71% for the older folks vs. 75% for the younger ones. The amount of video, and the frequency its watched isn’t included in these numbers. They are addressed in another Pew question, however, and as expected, the younger group has substantially higher percentages here.
According to the report:
Roughly one in three (31%) internet users ages 18-29 said they watched or downloaded some type of video on the day prior to our survey. Just 18% of users ages 30-49, 12% of those 50-64 and 10% of those age 65 and older watch or download any type of video on the average day.
Other interesting stats of note: 23% of 18-29 year olds have rated videos and 25% have commented on videos. Of course there’s a margin of error in the poll (+/- 3%), and one might suspect that it comes into play here. It would seem much easier to simply rate a video than comment on it, but many sites (especially independent vlogs) may not have a rating system in place. Still, the roughly 25% number for both would seem encouraging.
You can read more of the Pew report about online video viewership here.