More and more people are consuming online video, primarily, say researchers, because of the increasing availability of broadband connections. As mobile devices become more ubiquitous, so too is mobile video consumption.
What’s more, the study shows that Internet users are not replacing their traditional TV viewing, but are consuming online video in conjunction with or often a supplement to TV programming.
Conducted Horowitz Associates, the study revealed that 61 percent of high-speed Internet users watch or download online video content at least once a week; 86 percent do so on a weekly basis, both up around 15 percent over 2006.
Weekly viewing of full television episodes has doubled since last year, with 16 percent of broadband users watching TV online on a weekly basis. News, user-generated content, and non-professional content are still the most popular forms, followed by movie previews, music videos, and TV clips.
“There is a dynamic relationship between broadband access, broadband content and broadband consumption” said Howard Horowitz, President of Horowitz Associates.
“More and better broadband content— particularly entertainment content in video form— is bringing more consumers to the platform, either on their computers or on their handheld devices.
“This, in turn, creates an even greater demand for— and expectations regarding— broadband video. Importantly, the data suggest that broadband video is not cannibalistic to linear video, but rather, an enhancement to the consumers’ “traditional” TV experience.”
In fact, television is still the preferred platform for content as 70 percent of respondents said they only watch TV online when they have missed TV shows. Only 13 percent skip the television set and prefer to watch online.
Use of mobile devices to watch video is also on the rise, with over one quarter of Internet users having a video-enabled hand-held device, and 35 percent of them watching video at least weekly, 62 percent of them doing it monthly. Overall, mobile viewers account for 18 percent of online video viewers, up from 8 percent a year ago.
