TORONTO – New research shows more and more Canadians turning to YouTube for entertainment and information – and that they are spending far more time there than just watching short cat clips.
According to Toronto’s Solutions Research Group, 80% of online Canadians now watch YouTube content monthly and that time spent with YouTube videos is trending up from 2012 and 2013 levels. “We’re also seeing uptick in subscriptions to YouTube lifestyle channels such as beauty & fashion, cooking and health. Family category is also growing.
“Are YouTube channels the new specialty TV?” asks the research, which was a survey of 1,000 online Canadians done in March as part of the company’s YouTube Tracking series within its syndicated Digital Life Canada research.
While the bulk of the viewing done on YouTube is still shorter videos, the proportion of people watching videos of 30 minutes or longer has doubled in a year. Sixteen percent of Canadians report watching videos from 30 minutes to 90 minutes or longer, up from 8% a year ago. Most are finding the content they want by searching YouTube itself (53%).
When it comes to the pre-roll ads on YouTube, 27% report watching the entire ad, while most simply clicked past it as soon as they were able to.
Also, when it comes to specific YouTube channels, 24% of online Canadians (6.5 million) say they subscribe to at least one. However, that overall figure has decreased by a percentage point compared to last year. The public portion of the research does not speculate why. There is serious growth in certain content segments though with subscribers to beauty/fashion, cooking/health, family and third language YouTube channels all trending upwards.
And when it comes to the viewer demographic of YouTube consumers, 89% are still under 50 years of age, although that number is trending up in age – and in household income, too.
For more, go to srgnet.com
