Asians, Men, Watch Most Internet Video

May 7, 2012

nielsen-video-audience-time-spend-race-in-q42011-may2012.pngAmong internet video viewers, Asians spent by far the most time of any race or ethnicity watching video content in Q4 2011, according to [download page] a May 2012 Nielsen report. With a monthly average of 8 hours and 43 minutes, they easily consumed more internet video than African Americans, at 6 hours and 19 minutes, and Hispanics, at 6 hours and 10 minutes. Caucasian internet video viewers spent the least amount of time, at just under 4 hours. Looking at gender patterns, the report finds that male viewers spent on average 5 hours and 4 minutes per month watching video on the internet, almost an hour more than female viewers (4 hours and 8 minutes).

Breaking the gender data down by age groups, the report shows that male internet video viewers aged 18-49 watched the most content on a monthly basis, at an average of 6 hours and 31 minutes.

According to April 2012 figures from comScore, 83.5% of the US internet audience viewed online video in March 2012, down slightly from 83.8% in February.

Mobile Video Viewing Evenly Spread

Among mobile subscribers watching video on their devices, Asians, Hispanics, and African Americans all spent the same average monthly amount of time (4 hours and 20 minutes) viewing content in Q4 2011, ahead of Caucasians, who spent just under 4 hours on average. There was no variation between male and female viewers, each spending an average of 4 hours and 20 minutes watching video on their devices.

Internet Video Audience Skews Older

According to the report, Americans aged 34 and younger made up 62% of the mobile subscriber video viewing population in Q4 2011, with the 18-49 group accounting for 78% of the total audience. The internet video viewing population appears to skew older, though: Americans over 35 represented 59% of the population watching videos online, with one-third of the total viewing audience aged 50 and older. This may be related to the amount of time spent online: according to the report, among internet users, Boomers (aged 50-64) spent a monthly average of 28 hours and 25 minutes online, compared to 24 hours and 39 minutes for 18-24-year-olds.

Despite the figures showing that the internet video audience skews older, a May 2012 report [pdf] from Pew finds that teens are finding many ways to use internet video’s capabilities. For example, 27% of internet-using teens aged 12-17 record and upload video to the internet, 13% stream video live to the internet for other people to watch, and 37% participate in video chats with others using applications such as Skype.

Other Findings:

  • According to the Nielsen report, among Americans consuming video content in Q4 2011, females across all adult age categories watched most on TV, with the 50+ demographic leading at over 200 hours per month.
  • African-Americans watched more than double the amount of TV (209 hours and 8 minutes per month) than Asians (95 hours and 41 minutes).
  • The number of US households foregoing cable or satellite TV in favor of a pairing of broadcast TV-only plus broadband internet connection rose 14% in Q4 2011 when compared to a year earlier, to 5.1 million households.
  • The number of homes subscribing to wired cable fell 4.6% year-over-year in Q4 2011, while telephone company-provided (telco) TV saw an increase of 15.2%.
  • Wired cable was the top subscription choice in Q4 2011 for white (53%), African American (56%), Hispanic (45%), and Asian (52%) households. Hispanic households were more likely to be broadcast-only (15%) or pay for satellite (34%) than any other ethnicity.
  • Streaming remained a highly concentrated behavior, with 84% of all streaming taking place among the top quintile of consumers who stream.
  • The top quintile of TV watchers also spent the largest amount of time on the internet, at almost 27 minutes daily.
  • Data from the Pew report indicates that frequent internet users, texters, and social media users are all more likely to video chat than others.
  • Boys (28%) and girls (26%) aged 12-17 are equally likely to record and upload videos.

About the Data: The Pew data is based on a survey of 799 teens conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, between April 19 and July 14, 2011.

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