The growth in the online video audience is no longer being driven by early adopters but has spread to other demographic segments that use it to access media.
Over the past six months, the popularity of online video has grown significantly with women and older consumers, helping to close the age and gender gap within the growing online video audience in the U.S. according to data from Ipsos Media CT’s Motion study.
Since the last part of 2007, the percentage of female Internet users ages 12 and older that have watched a video online in the past 30 days has increased from 45 percent to 54 percent. That represents an all time high for this demographic and almost equal to the percentage of men (58%) who have recently viewed online video.
In addition, the percentage of adults aged 35-54 that have recently watched online video has also jumped since December 2007, growing from 49 percent to 60 percent in that time period.
“It appears the prevalence of streaming video online among younger males may be approaching a ceiling today, whereas the other demographic groups are driving the audience growth here, said Adam Wright, Director at Ipsos MediaCT.
“The implication for those in the video entertainment industry is that online video – as a medium – appears to be tapping into later stage adopter segments that were perhaps reticent to embrace it even just a year ago.”
The data reveals the large online audience that online video services are attracting also is leading to a shift in media landscape for many video entertainment consumers.
“Television networks, movie studios and other video entertainment entities will need to recognize the growing demand among all consumers for digital distribution,” said Wright.
“Streaming video is no longer something just teens and twenty-something’s are enjoying, but rather it has become a fixture in mainstream America’s daily routines.”
