Seven in 10 American adults online are using video sharing sites such as YouTube, with minority users leading the way, according to a report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
And much of the video streaming is being done on mobile devices, according to a separate study, which reported that YouTube was the most popular mobile Internet service. YouTube accounted for 22 percent of mobile data bandwidth usage and 52 percent of total video streaming in the first half of the year, according to broadband consulting firm Allot Communications.
The findings raise fresh questions about how how video-hungry consumers will be affected by data caps and how carriers will be able to handle the explosion of traffic on their networks. We wrote Monday about Netflix’s concerns about data caps, or metered billing, which are being introduced by a growing number of fixed-wire and wireless Internet service providers.
Americans are creating, sharing and viewing video online more than ever, Pew reported in a study released Tuesday. The percentage of American adults online using video-sharing sites such as YouTube or Vimeo increased to 71 percent in May 2011 from 66 percent the year before.
Blacks and Hispanics were the most active video consumers online — with 76 percent of African Americans and 81 percent of Hispanics saying they used video-sharing sites.
Household income level didn’t have much effect on video sharing: 71 percent of users with annual incomes less than $30,000 said they use the services, along with 81 percent of users with incomes above $75,000 a year. READ MORE
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