Use of Video-Sharing Sites Soars in U.S.

Nearly half of U.S. internet users have visited video-sharing sites, such as YouTube, and typical daily traffic to such sites nearly doubled from the end of 2006 to the end of 2007, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, MarketingCharts reports.

Among the findings (pdf) of a national phone survey conducted at the end of 2007:

• Some 48% of internet users said they had ever visited a video-sharing site, compared with 33% who said so at the end of 2006 - a growth of more than 45% year over year (see breakdown by age, gender).
  • The percentage of women who have ever visited a video-sharing site was up from 27% in Dec. ‘06 to 43% in Dec. ‘07 - an increase of 59%.
  • Some 70% of those age 18-29 have visited such sites (as of Dec. 07) up 27% from the year-earlier period’s 55%.
  • The greatest increase among age groups came from those age 50-64: the number of visitors increased from 19% to 30% - up 58%.
• Some 15% said they had used a video-sharing site “yesterday,” nearly double the 8% who had said so at the end of 2006 (see breakdown by age, gender).
  • About 30% of online young adults and 20% online men watch a video on a site like YouTube on a typical day.
  • Among women, average daily usage was up from 5% to 11% (an increase of
    120%).
  • Among those age 30-49 typical daily usage increased from 7% to 14% (an
    increase of 100%).
• Some 22% of Americans have made videos, and 14% of them have posted at least portions of those videos online - more than triple the percentage of those who said they had done so when surveyed in February-April 2006.

About the data: A survey of 2,054 American adults (age 18 and older) was conducted from October 24 to December 2, 2007. The number of internet users asked the video-sharing question was 1,359.