In less than two years, YouTube has seen it’s rate of videos consumed on mobile devices climb some 400%.
According to YouTube executive Robert Kyncl, views from mobile devices now represent a full quarter of views on the popular video-sharing platform.
“We’re experiencing a massive consumer shift,” Kyncl said at a conference this week. “Mobile has increased from 6% to 25% in last 18 months across the whole of YouTube.”
Business Insider reported in 2011 that mobile traffic tripled in 2011 and stood at 20 percent of total views.
The shift to mobile has been evident across all online media. But mobile has been particularly difficult for YouTube. Until recently, it didn’t serve advertising on most of its mobile traffic, and vulnerabilities in its site allowed hackers to inflate the number of mobile views some videos received.
All the new mobile enthusiasts are giving YouTube hope for making the most of its revenue potential.
Google’s decision last fall, for example, to launch 100 new premium channels in the U.S. is finally gaining traction and inspiring YouTube to finance a new generation of original channels out of Europe.
