NPD: 80% of Smartphone Users Stream Video

21 Mar, 2016 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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Eighty-one percent of U.S. smartphone users stream video on their devices, according to new data from The NPD Group. This usage is being driven mostly by users 25 and younger, who spend twice as much time watching video via YouTube and Netflix mobile apps compared with older users.

About 66% of Americans own an Internet-enabled cell phone, with nearly 20% relying on their phone as their sole Internet access point, according to Pew Research.

As a result, younger users consume more data — on average 6.2GB of data video streaming each month. By comparison, older smartphone users use an average of 4.9GB of data for video streaming monthly.

And while the majority of video streaming occurs over Wi-Fi networks, smartphone users now rely on cellular data more than ever, according to the NPD. The average U.S. smartphone user consumes close to 3GB of cellular data per month, with video streaming driving that data consumption.

Interestingly, Pew found that 7% of Americans own a smartphone but do not subscribe to broadband service at home, or have online access alternatives other than their cell phone.

“Users are spending more time watching videos on their smartphones as adoption of larger displays increases,” said Brad Akyuz, research director NPD connected intelligence mobility.

Akyuz said mobile streaming usage is further impacted by new wireless video services such as T-Mobile’s Binge On and Verizon’s go90, which operate on sponsored data. 
 

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