Professional and amateur videos, as well as live webcam chats, are an increasingly popular online destination for students. Not surprisingly, youngsters and teens watch more streaming content online than older Americans, new research confirms. But a growing number of adults also enjoy news, entertainment, sports and communication that doesn’t sit still.

Internet users between 12 and 17 each saw an average of 74 video streams and 132 minutes of online video during a recent month, according to an industry rating service. They mainly watch music videos, movie trailers and clips of other visitors.
Kids aged 2-11 viewed an average of 51 streams and 118 minutes during the April research period, while those over 18 viewed an average of 44 streams and 99 minutes. Another 2008 survey shows that 48 percent – nearly half -- of online adults said they've visited video Web sites, up dramatically from 33 percent a year earlier.

Stickam, a live webcam chat community, is now the top video destination among teens, according to the new data from Nielsen Online's VideoCensus measurement service. Two music video sites, Buzznet.com and Atlantic Records, follow closely among the same age group. MySpace TV, another popular place to hang out, gets an update this week as part of a site residesign being launched Wednesday. The social network’s player has been overhauled to include a new menu system, easier video-sharing capability.and full use of Flash 9 with true full-screen mode.
Overall, YouTube is by far the most visited video site -- with more than 67 million unique users each month who see over 2.6 billion streams.

Expert says: "Today's youth don't know -- or don't remember -- a time when they weren't going online, so their adoption of online video has been seamless." -- Michael Pond, senior media analyst at Nielsen Online rating service

Video-sharing: "The dramatic growth in the population using video-sharing sites is tied at least in part to the popularity of such sites among men, younger adults (under 30) and college graduates." – Pew Internet and American Life Project study

New service: VideoFetcher.com, a free site launched this month, lets users enter keywords and search over 100 Web video sites at one time to find a clip by subject matter.