Video consumption skewed by kids, teens

According to several recent reports, consumption of online video is going through the roof. Before you create an ad and buy a huge amount of video ad space, you may want to check out just one more report: this one indicates that kids and teens are consuming the majority of online video.

by Kristina Knight

According to the report kids (aged 2 - 11) comprise about 9% of the online viewing audience, teens (aged 12 - 17) comprise about 12% of the viewing audience and adults (aged 18+) comprise about 80% of the viewing audience. However, kids and teens are watching much more online video than their adult counterparts.

Researchers found that kids, on average, consumed 51 online videos and spent more than 110 minutes with online video during the month of April. Teens watched 74 online videos each and spent 132 minutes with online video. Adults, on the other hand, watched only 44 videos during the reporting period and spent only about 99 minutes viewing.

So, while there are more adults watching video, kids and teens are still consuming more online streams than adults.

Now that doesn't make online video a bad place to advertise, but it does change how video should be approached and exactly which brands and companies can benefit most from sponsoring video content. For example, there are very few kids or teens who would care if the pre- or post-roll ad served with a clip was about retirement investing. Many teens, however, would be interested in the latest mobile gadget or a viral competition to create an ad for a favored brand.