Google: 88% of Filipino internet users in rural VisMin go to YouTube

Google Southeast Asia data and insights chief Nikki Del Gallego  shares to the media and partner organizations during an event in Taguig City on April 24, 2025, that 88 percent of Filipino internet users in rural Visayas and Mindanao had used video sharing platform YouTube in the last four weeks. INQUIRER.net / JASON SIGALES

MANILA, Philippines — Eighty-eight percent of Filipino internet users in rural Visayas and Mindanao go to video sharing platform YouTube.

This was according to Google Southeast Asia data and insights chief Nikki Del Gallego, citing a study by market research firm Kantar, at an event in Taguig City on Thursday.

The survey was conducted from January 24 to February 18, 2025.

Referring to the same Kantar study, Del Gallego said 76 percent of Filipinos in rural Visayas and Mindanao tuned into television and online programs through their smartphones, compared to 54 percent who used their TV sets.

Further, the Google Southeast Asia data chief said one in two Filipinos in rural Visayas and Mindanao said watching TV online could already be considered as watching TV in the traditional sense.

Del Gallego attributed this to easier access to internet connectivity through methods like “piso Wi-Fi,” sharing that she and her team saw this during a visit to the Cebu countryside.

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“[W]hat we found is that almost every house that we visited had this device where you just slot in a few pesos and you instantly get [an] internet connection,” Del Gallego said. “[I]t becomes more accessible for more Pinoys today to get to digital.”

“You can now easily access YouTube from your phone. It won’t buffer because the technology will allow you to adjust the quality, so even those in rural Visayas and Mindanao are able to get video,” she added.