The third edition of the Social TV Index Report, from digital services company Ring Digital, reveals that YouTube is quickly increasing as a platform where “consumers vote, post, share or comment about something on TV.” The Social TV Index Report states that 37 percent of adults aged 18 to 24 have engaged in social TV, and 29 percent of the overall U.S. Internet population, up 5 percent from last year. Among those social TV users, 14.5 percent posted TV-related comments to YouTube, more than twice last year’s 6.3 percent.

“Typically, the social TV buzz is focused on Twitter and Facebook,” says report author Brian Ring, who describes the Index Report as “the only tracking survey covering the mixture of social media and television viewing.”

According to Ring, “Our data shows that media organizations — and viewers — are seeing unique possibilities to integrate YouTube into their programming strategies.”

With regard to YouTube’s rise, Ring points to ABC News, which now has 1.5 billion views on YouTube, mainly of content it repackaged for that site. Other survey findings are that still-dominant Facebook continues growth, while Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat show decline or limited movement in their use for social TV.

The report will also be presented in a November 17 panel, featuring participants from Twitter, Fox Sports, HLN, Telescope and Whipclip, at LiveTV:LA, a conference hosted by the Sports Video Group, TVNewsCheck and Variety 411.  The SocialTV Index bases its research on uses Google Consumer Surveys “to create insight on the emerging behaviors at the intersection of social media & television viewership.”