On YouTube, Young Men Watch Mars and Young Women Watch Venus

As brands shift dollars to online video, they need to know what their target viewers are watching. That idea led social video data company OpenSlate to put together a report on what young adults view on YouTube. Timed for last month's newfront presentations in New York City, the report shows a deep divide between the sexes.

Men age 18 to 34 are likely to be watching gaming content, OpenSlate found: Young men spend 51 percent of their time watching gaming videos, followed by 15 percent watching music videos, and 12 percent watching movie or TV content.

Breaking down the gaming category, shooter games are the biggest genre, getting 38 percent of the pie. That's followed by 9 percent on roleplaying games and 7 percent each on virtual worlds, massive multiplayer, and adventure games.

Women age 18 to 34 spend most of their YouTube time on beauty. This group streams beauty and style videos 62 percent of the time, followed by 6 percent on health and fitness and 5 percent on music.

Breaking down the beauty and style category, OpenSlate finds that face and body care videos get 40 percent of watch time, followed by make-up and cosmetics with 34 percent and hair care with 13 percent.

OpenSlate also looked at which video categories have a high percentage of young men or women viewers. Technology videos are viewed by young men 62 percent of the time, followed by sports (60 percent), and gaming (59 percent). The categories with the most young women viewers include beauty and style (47 percent of the audience), food and drink (38 percent), and shopping (33 percent).

"Mining the YouTube universe for the best subject matter, specialties, creators and channels will deliver the best, most engaged audiences for marketers," OpenSlate says. For more results, view the full report.

Troy Dreier's article first appeared on OnlineVideo.net