Survey, supported by data from Photobucket’s 100 million users, reveals online photo and video trends

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Photobucket Corporation, the world’s leading dedicated photo and video sharing service, today announced the results from the company-sponsored 2011 Summer Photo Usage survey. Responses from more than 2,500 survey participants, as well as data garnered from Photobucket’s 100 million users and their nine billion image uploads, helped to illustrate the current attitudes and habits of those capturing photos and videos this summer. Among the findings are that video uploads are increasing rapidly on web and mobile platforms, and the lack of centralization in online photo storage continues.

Video Uploads on the Rise
According to the survey, consumers are using traditional video cameras with much less frequency, but they are using mobile devices to capture video much more often. In fact, of those surveyed:

• 45% use a mobile device for capturing video at least once a week

• 17% use a mobile device for capturing video at least once a day

• 9% use a mobile device for capturing video multiple times per day

This trend is further validated by company data, which shows a significant upward trend of video uploads:

• Total video uploads (web and mobile) are 3.5x higher year-over-year (July 2010 to July 2011)

• Total video uploads from mobile devices are 14x higher than in December 2010

“Due to the growing adoption of smartphones, devices such as GPS systems, alarm clocks, watches and more are becoming displaced, so it’s no surprise that video cameras are on the chopping block as well,” said Tom Munro, CEO of Photobucket. “As this explosive growth continues, we will respond with even more product features for video uploading options and apps that will allow consumers to more easily capture, edit and share their digital memories.”

Lack of Centralized Organization Continues
According to the survey, consumers are still highly fragmented on where they store their images online. Survey respondents revealed that while they were eager to store and share their newly-taken images, many seem confused about the best way to organize their ever-growing number of files, possibly due to the plethora of new entrants into the photo-sharing market.

In fact, the survey revealed 41% of respondents had images on three or more sites with the following breakdown:

• 24% of respondents upload personal images to three different online photo sites

• 12% of respondents upload personal images to four sites

• 15% of respondents upload personal images on five or more sites

“Photobucket is a unique and powerful combination of web, mobile and apps, and is one of the only true integrated players in the space. We want to help consumers who are feeling fragmented by becoming the one place they can keep the story of their life in photos and video and where consumers can save, edit, create and manage all of their photos and video,” stated Munro.

Mobile Photo App Market Buoyed by Fanatical Users
Despite heavy media play and reports of enormous growth, according to the survey, 46% of respondents state that they never have used any mobile app for capturing images. However, of those who do use mobile apps, their usage is very high with more than 20% reporting they use mobile apps for photos at least once, if not multiple times per day. This data suggests that there is a high threshold for adoption of mobile apps, but once adopted, there is fanatical use.

Uploads from Mobile Devices Increased
The 2011 Summer Photo Usage Survey demonstrated a slight decrease in digital camera usage since the 2010 Holiday survey (down 6%). However there was a significant increase in uploads from mobile devices with 58% reporting using a camera phone to capture and share photos - up from 27% during last year’s Holiday Survey.

Photobucket usage data echoes the survey findings. The company shows a major increase in the number of monthly mobile photo uploads, with:

• Nearly 18 million monthly unique visitors on Photobucket mobile web and mobile apps

• Mobile uploads in excess of 25 million per month - 5x higher year-over-year

“The improved quality of photos and videos from camera phones, ease of uploading and constant availability are making them the default device for image capturing and sharing. Our auto-uploader is making the process of uploading and sharing so seamless that we expect this growth trend to increase even more,” said Munro.

How the Survey Was Conducted
The 2011 Summer Usage Survey was conducted in July 2011. Results from 2,510 respondents were recorded.

To create a free Photobucket account, users can visit http://photobucket.com or find the Photobucket Mobile Application and Snapbucket app available in the app store on all major smartphone platforms. Photobucket supports Mobile Web, iPhone, Android based devices, Blackberry, and Windows Phone 7.

About Photobucket
Photobucket is the world’s leading dedicated photo and video sharing service. With over 100 million registered members, Photobucket users upload over four million images and videos per day from the Web and connected digital devices. Photobucket hosts, preserves and protects photos and videos while bringing members the very best browsing, sharing and editing experiences. In addition to uploading and sharing with friends and family on the Photobucket site, users can also instantly share memories across all of the most popular social networks, instant messenger applications, through email, and from their mobile phones. Photobucket’s headquarters are in Denver, Colorado with a regional office in San Francisco, California. For the latest feature announcements and news, please visit the Photobucket press blog at http://blog.photobucket.com/photobucket_press.