YouTube is now watched by more people than MTV, ESPN and even HBO – in fact, more 18 to 49 year olds watch the streaming video service than any single cable network, Google told media outlets during their quarterly earnings call earlier this week.
According to Forbes and Digital Trends, Google said during the earnings call that YouTube is not only more popular than any individual US cable network among the key 18- to 49-year-old demographic, but that the site has seen “significant growth” over the past three months.
In fact, business officer Omid Kordestani told reporters that visitors to YouTube’s homepage had increased by a factor of three year-over-year, and that watch time on the video website was up 60 percent during that same period. According to TechCrunch, that represents its fastest growth rate in two years, and mobile watch time has more than doubled over the past year.
Mobile users are currently spending an average of more than 40 minutes watching videos on YouTube, an increase of more than 50 percent since 2014. Furthermore, the number of movie publishers earning at least $100,000 through YouTube is up 50 percent year-over-year.
Experts says findings reflect changes in video viewing habits
The statistics “reflect a significant sea change in the way that people today are consuming video content,” according to TechCrunch. “We’re no longer spending as much time watching big screen TV in living rooms, but are shifting much of our viewing to other platforms, including our phones and tablets.”
“For YouTube in particular, session times of this length mean that the video-sharing network is no longer just a place users land to watch a single video – like something they’ve been pointed to via a friend, or a post on social media or a news site, for example,” the website added. “Instead, YouTube is now serving as a place where users are watching a series of videos back-to-back.”
A recent study from Miner & Co. found that television is no longer the primary option kids use to entertain themselves, which 57 percent of parents reporting that their children prefer watching video content on mobile devices. Furthermore, 58 percent of kids that live in households with at least one tablet have their own device which they can use to watch YouTube.
Digital Trends noted that the figures are indicative of “shifting habits as far as online video goes: Users (particularly younger ones) are now more comfortable with watching longer videos on computers and smartphones.” Of course, as the website also pointed out, “increased mobile download speeds and bigger phone screen sizes don’t hurt either.”
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