College students have a huge online video habit

The general population may just now be venturing into online video, but a recent report from SurveyU indicates that college students are consuming far more than the general population. A fact that marketers may want to capitalize on now - rather than later.

by Kristina Knight

The report compares results from a recent SurveyU study with results from a recent Pew Internet/American Life Project study. The researchers found that about 93% of the college student demographic (ages 18-24) have watched online video; about 57% of the general adult Internet population has watched videos online. They also found that about 62% of college students download at least one online video each day; only about 19% of adults do so.

Dan Coates, co-founder of SurveyU said, "When it comes to online video, college students have advanced beyond the rest of the Internet population and are fully engaged in the complete
online video lifecycle: downloading videos, rating content, posting comments, publishing video links and uploading their own videos.”

The student demographic isn't just watching, however. They are sharing videos with friends, creating their own viral videos and making recommendations to others. This makes them a key demographic for marketers. With so much of the target demographic already tapped in, it makes sense to continue - or increase - the number of video campaigns targeted to college students.