People of Color are Leading YouTube’s Growth

But will tiered pricing plans curb mobile Web growth?

By Jorge Rivas Jul 29, 2011

Black and Latino users are the most active video consumers online, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

The report found more people are using video-sharing sites. Overall, 69 percent of white Internet users said they had visited video-sharing sites. While 79 percent of non-whites with Web access — African-Americans, Latinos and others — reported using video-sharing sites.

Another study found much of the video streaming is being done on mobile devices. Much like general online groups who visit video-sharing sites, blacks and Latinos have significantly higher proportional viewership on their cell phones. They’re also more likely to record a video on their phones, and more likely than whites to post a video

These new findings, along with the increasing number of wireless telephone companies beginning to change the way they bill their for data services, could really impact Latino and black mobile phone users that access higher bandwidth sites like YouTube and Vimeo.

On July 7, Verizon Wireless ended its unlimited data plans and replaced them with a tiered pricing structure that bills them according to how much data they use. Advocates say these changes could really limit people of color from accessing the Internet.