The percentage of US adults who watch online video continues to increase but it is not coming at the expense of TV. According to the Leichtman Research Group at least 14 percent of adults watched online video once a week as of December 2006.
In the past year total online video usage has increased but the percentage of adults watching video has seen little change. An earlier LRG survey found that 4 percent of adults viewed online video daily and another 11 percent weekly.
TV still leads over online video with 93 percent of adults viewing at least one hour a day on average.
As for who is watching online video, men ages 18 to 34 account for 41 percent of daily online video watchers, but they comprise only 14 percent of online subscribers. This demographic also accounts for more than two-thirds of adults who visit YouTube and view other user-generated content daily.
One interesting point to note is that only 8 percent who watch online video agree that they watch TV less often.
“As with most forms of media and entertainment, online video is following the traditional ‘heavy hand’ model of a minority of users driving the majority of the usage,” said Bruce Leichtman of LRG. “Rather than replacing TV, in the near-term, emerging video services like online video are best viewed as opportunities to complement and augment traditional TV viewing options.”
While 68 percent of adults online have an interest in watching downloaded TV shows and movies on their televisions, just 45 percent would watch longer videos on their computer screens, according to Points North Group and Horowitz Associates.
Overall online video audience is expected to grow to 157 million people by 2010 according to emarketer estimates.
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