21 Million Britons Visit Video Websites In September
Almost 21 million Britons visited a TV, video or movie-related website in Sept 07, a 28% increase in visitors since Sept 06, according to a new report from Nielsen Online.
The total time Britons spent consuming content from TV/Video/Movie sites has almost doubled, from 641 million minutes in Sept 06 to 1.2 billion minutes in Sept 07, an increase of 91%.
| Growth of TV/Video/Movie Sector* – UK September 2006-2007 | |||
| TV/Video/Movie Sector* | Sep-06 | Sep-07 | % Growth |
| Unique UK Audience (millions) | 16.3 | 20.8 | 28% |
| UK Active Reach | 55% | 63% | 15% |
| Total UK minutes (millions) | 641 | 1,223 | 91% |
| Source: Nielsen Online, UK NetView, home & work data, including applications, September 2006 – 2007 | |||
| *’TV/Video/Movie’ sector is a custom category compiled by the Nielsen Online PR team | |||
| E.g. between Sept 06 & Sept 07, the number of Britons visiting the sector increased from 16.3 mil to 20.8 mil – a 28% growth | |||
Alex Burmaster, internet analyst, Nielsen Online, said: “Britons are displaying an increasingly significant appetite for supplementing their viewing habits online.
“Whether it’s additional content relating to a particular TV programme or actually watching episodes or videos through their computer, we are starting to see a significant spread of entertainment consumption from the so-called ‘lean-back’ method of TV to the ‘lean-forward’ method of the PC.”
YouTube is the most popular and most engaging TV, video or movie site according to Nielsen Online, being visited by 9.4 million Britons who spend a combined total of almost half a billion minutes on the site.
| 10 most popular TV, Video & Movie Sites* by UK audience – September 2007 | ||||
| Rank | TV/Video/Movie Site* | Unique UK Audience (millions) | UK Active Reach | Total UK minutes (millions) |
| 1 | YouTube | 9.4 | 28% | 499 |
| 2 | BBC (TV/movie sites only) | 6.7 | 20% | 62 |
| 3 | Lycos Europe Movie | 3 | 9% | 37 |
| 4 | Sky (TV/movie sites only) | 3 | 9% | 41 |
| 5 | ITV | 2.1 | 6% | 29 |
| 6 | Channel 4 | 2.1 | 6% | 12 |
| 7 | Google Video | 1.8 | 5% | 14 |
| 8 | Odeon | 0.9 | 3% | 5 |
| 9 | TV-links.co.uk | 0.8 | 2% | 71 |
| 10 | TV.com | 0.8 | 2% | 10 |
| Source: Nielsen Online, UK NetView, home & work data, including applications, September 2007 | ||||
| *’TV/Video/Movie’ sites is a custom list compiled by the Nielsen Online PR team | ||||
| E.g. between Sept 06 & Sept 07, the number of Britons visiting the sector increased from 16.3 mil to 20.8 mil – a 28% growth | ||||
Burmaster added: “The fact that YouTube is the most popular site in this sector shows the power of social media as an entertainment form – and the threat or opportunity it poses for traditional media players, depending on your point view.
“It’s also interesting to note that TV-links.co.uk – the ninth most popular site and, amongst the top ten, second only to YouTube in terms of total audience time – has now been closed after claims it was illegally providing links to download film content and TV shows.
“Whilst the legality of the site is in question, the appetite that people have for watching this type of content online isn’t. It is an example of the potential audiences that await media content owners – particularly when it comes to back catalogues – if they can just get their content up and available online.”
Continental Research’s Autumn 2007 Internet & Convergence Report found that the number of people watching shows they have previously downloaded from the internet has doubled, from 1.3 million in 2006 to 2.4 million in 2007 (see Internet TV Growing Strongly).
In addition, the report also found that satisfaction amongst those viewing TV online was generally positive, with only 12% not satisfied with the service overall.
A US study from In-Stat says that whether it’s PVRs, User Generated Content (UGC), or online TV shows, the market has started the process of “unbundling television/video entertainment,” and this redistribution of control will likely come to dominate the overall consumer landscape in years to come.
Respondents who watched online video were bullish on the future of online video, in many cases expecting such forms of entertainment to become more mainstream over time (see Trends Favour Mainstream Acceptance of Internet TV).