Philippines leads world in number of web video viewers

PHILSTAR.COM


The Philippines is not only the texting capital of the world but also has the highest number of viewers of videos streamed over the Internet, according to a US-based social media agency.

The Philippines has more than four million active Internet users, 98.1 percent of whom watch shows on the Internet or higher than the global average of 82.8 percent, Universal McCann's Power to the People said in a recent survey.

China and Spain follow with 89.1 percent and 84.1 percent, respectively.

The survey involved 22,729 Internet users and was conducted in 38 countries to netizens between 16 and 54 years old.

Aside from watching shows, the survey also showed that about 67. 51 percent of Filipinos — almost double the global average of 35 percent — are fond of uploading or sharing videos over the net and just trails behind South Korea which is the most active in uploading videos.

"Majority of our Internet users likewise maintain social networking accounts. About 3.9 million Filipinos manage a social network profile," Universal McCann said.

The result was achieved despite the Philippines' relatively low number of households connected to the web, it said.

Universal McCann said the country only has 21.5 percent Internet penetration, significantly lower than the 86 percent web penetration of Norway. Norway has the highest penetration.

Earlier this month, a study released by US-based technology and social media news blog Mashable.com showed that the Philippines is still the text messaging capital of the world with Filipinos having sent an average of 600 text messages per month last year.