Online Video Viewer Demographics

Ron Dinger - December 9, 2008

According to eMarketer, approximately 80% of the US online population now watches online video at least once a month, consuming everything from news clips to college humor to sports highlights to full-length TV episodes. I wanted to shed some light on the demographic of these online video viewers, given the high percentage of users.

Based on the data from Emarketer below, online videos appeal to a wide demographic, so there are opportunities for most marketers. Online video users skewed toward females (55% to 45%), but mobile video users skewed towards males (54% to 46%). Males were more likely to be characterized as “heavy users” as compared to females. Around 40% of US viewers were age 35 and younger. Ages 45-54 had the highest percentage of online video users by age group. As expected, mobile video users tended to be younger. Unlike the Social Networking universe, ages 55 and older were well represented with online video usage — over 20% of total users.

As high speed internet becomes more and more common in US households, the percentage of online video consumption continues to grow at an impressive rate. Online video ads should be considered as part of your marketing mix, and are certainly worth a test.