WASHINGTON – A national survey conducted in July 2013 shows the percent of American adult internet users who upload or post video online has more than doubled in the past four years, from 14 percent in 2009 to 31 percent in 2013. About 27 percent of online adult have posted a video for others to watch or download; only about 18 percent created the videos they posted themselves.

Younger adult internet users are twice as likely as their older counterparts to post and share videos online, the survey indicated. While 41 percent of 18- to 29-year-old internet users and 36 percent of 30- to 49-year-old internet users post or share videos online, the same is true of just 18 percent of internet users age 50 and older.

“Since 2006, we’ve seen consistent increases year to year in the percentage of adults who watch videos online, but this survey marks the largest increase we’ve seen in the percent of adults who are posting videos online,” said Kristen Purcell, associate director of research for the Pew Internet Project and the author of the report. “As the online video culture grows — fueled by video-sharing sites, mobile phones and online social networking — posting videos online is becoming a mainstream online behavior.”

The 18 percent of online adults who share their own videos online are much more likely to post mundane, everyday content than to post something they have staged or scripted. The most common subject matter for those who post their own videos online is friends and family doing everyday things (58 percent of this group post this kind of content), followed closely by videos of themselves or others doing funny things (56 percent) or videos of events they have attended (54 percent). In contrast, just 23 percent of this group post a video they have intentionally staged, scripted or choreographed, and 30 percent post educational or tutorial videos they have recorded themselves.

Among all adults who post or share videos online — both their own and those created by others — 35 percent say they have posted or shared a video with the hope it would be seen by many people or “go viral.” That equates to 11 percent of all adult internet users. Just 5 percent of adults who post videos online say they regret a video they have posted in the past.

The percent of online adults who watch or download videos also has grown over the past four years, from 69 percent of adult internet users in 2009 to 78 percent in 2013. The figure includes online adults who do at least one of the following:

• Watch videos on a video-sharing site like YouTube or Vimeo (72 percent).
• Watch videos online, including on social network sites or using mobile apps (56 percent).
• Download video files onto a computer or cell phone so they can play them at any time they want (36 percent).

Video-sharing sites like YouTube have been the main driving force in the increasing percentage of online adults who post, watch and download videos. Since 2006, the percent of online adults who use video-sharing sites has grown from 33 percent to the current figure of 72 percent.

“Online video consumption continues to be concentrated among the youngest online adults, and those with higher education and income levels, but over time it has grown substantially among virtually all groups of online adults,” Purcell noted in the report. “Rates of online video-watching are extremely high among online adults age 18-49 (95 percent) and those age 30-49 (87 percent), yet even among internet users age 50 and older more than half (58 percent) are now online video consumers.”

As was the case in a 2009 Pew Internet survey, comedy and educational videos are among the most widely viewed video genres, with 57 percent of all online adults watching comedy or humorous videos and 50 percent watching educational videos.

The two genres now are rivaled by “how-to” videos, viewed by 56 percent of online adults, and music videos. Music videos experienced the largest growth in viewership between 2009 and 2013: from 32 percent to 50 percent of all online adults.

Different demographic groups are drawn to different online video content. Online video-watchers age 18-29 are twice as likely as those 50 and older to watch music videos (81 percent vs. 39 percent) or animation videos (47 percent vs. 20 percent). Male online video-watchers are more likely than females to view sports videos (49 percent vs. 23 percent), political videos (40 percent vs. 30 percent) and adult videos (25 percent vs. 8 percent) online.

The growing online video culture is a natural byproduct of the increasing number of adults who use social network sites such as Facebook, as well as the proliferation of cell phones that make it relatively easy to watch, record, and post videos online, Purcell contends. Fully 72 percent of online adults now use social networking sites, which provide a user-friendly venue for video sharing and watching. The current survey shows 71 percent of adults who post videos online do so on social networking sites, and 58 percent of adults who watch online videos do so on social networking sites.

Similarly, as the percent of American adults who own a cell phone now stands at 91 percent, it is not uncommon for adults to use the devices to participate in the online video culture. Among adult cell phone owners, 21 percent use their phone to watch video, 40 percent use their phones to record video and 20 percent use their phones to post videos online.

More recently, apps have emerged which bring the convenience of cell phones together with the popularity of online video. In the current survey, 23 percent of adults who post videos online do so using a mobile app such as Vine and 17 percent watch using a mobile app.

The complete report, “Online Video 2013,” is available online.