Digital video to surpass TV by 2020, says YouTube's Kyncl [video]

USAToday.com reports that YouTube sees a future where more folks will be watching video than television. In fact, it will be here in just a few years.

In a speech at the Consumer Electronics Show, YouTube chief business officer Robert Kyncl predicted that viewing patterns will shift dramatically.

“Digital video will overtake television to become the single largest way people spend their free time before the end of this decade,” he said, citing mobile viewing, virtual reality and music programming as the drivers of the shift.

Kyncl based his prediction on trends of lower TV audiences yearly, coupled with the annual rise of mobile video viewing.

TV viewing peaked in 2009, Kyncl said, quoting researcher Nielsen, and viewers currently watch five hours of TV daily. That compare to an hour and fifteen minutes daily of online video, which is growing 60% yearly.

In late 2015, YouTube launched Red, a new ad-free subscription service, and the Google-owned service will bring in original programming from young YouTube stars in February.

Read more and see the video at http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2016/01/07/ces-2016-digital-video-surpasses-tv-by-decades-end—youtube/78444510/