Eight of 10 U.S. Smartphone Users Stream Video Content on Their Devices, NPD Says

Eighty-one percent of U.S. smartphone users stream video programming on their devices, said an NPD report Monday. While most video streaming takes place over Wi-Fi, video is the top driver of cellular data usage, with the average U.S. smartphone owner consuming nearly 3 GB of cellular data per month, NPD said. Analyst Brad Akyuz attributed growing video usage on smartphones to larger displays and free sponsored data from T-Mobile’s Binge On and Verizon Wireless’ go90 plans. Overall smartphone data usage is being driven by users 25 and younger, who spend twice as much time watching videos on YouTube and Netflix mobile apps as users over 25, NPD said. Smartphone users under 25 average 6.2 GB data consumption for video streaming monthly versus the 25-plus group who average 4.9 GB data for video usage per month, NPD said.