Another day, another survey about online video. This particular one throws up some interesting results, particularly in terms of how often people are watching online video, how it compares to TV, and the increased acceptance of advertising.
Metacafe Survey
Every single piece of analysis conducted over the last few years has suggested online video is growing, and in a supremely fast and aggressive manner. And a new survey on behalf of Metacafe continues this trend.
Regular Viewing Habits
Viewing online video has become a strong, regular occurrence for many people. 13 percent of respondents watch every day, with 50 percent watching every week. 60 percent watch every month, with 76 percent of those questioned watching online video at all. All of these figures are up from 2009.
Of the 50 percent who watch online video every week, the average time spent doing so is 4.6 hours, which equates to around 40 minutes per day. This increase in the occurrence and time spent watching online video is unsurprisingly being driven by the young.
Online Video Vs. TV
38 percent of those questioned are interested or very interested in connecting their computer to a TV in order to view online video on a big screen. Which is good news for the forthcoming connected TV platforms such as Google TV and YouView.
However, interestingly these same people state that online video isn’t, on the whole, interfering with their regular viewing on broadcast TV. Which is good news for the big networks which seem to be getting increasingly worried about their market being tempered by the growth of online video.
I think it will eventually happen, but maybe not as soon as we had thought it would.
Online Video Advertising
As the move to the Web does take place, advertising is likely to increase. But video sites have to be careful not to go over the top.
The Metacafe survey suggests that most people are currently happy with the level of online video ads, but it wouldn’t take much for this situation to change. I don’t think viewers ever want to see TV levels of ads being played before, during, and after online video content.
Conclusions
The online video sector is obviously is a healthy state at the moment, and only likely to get even healthier.
[Via NewTeeVee]
