In total, 34% of US adults online at home report that they view some type of video online at least weekly, including 11% who view video online daily, according to a new report from Leichtman Research Group.
Overall (including those not online), 1% of adults view recent TV shows online daily, and 8% weekly – compared to 6% weekly last year.
Twenty four percent of adults report viewing a news clip online weekly, 20% view YouTube or other user-generated video online weekly, and 15% view sports news or highlights online weekly.
The report also found that 8% of adults who watch video online strongly agree that they now watch TV less often, while 75% strongly disagree, while 18% of teens who watch video online strongly agree that they now watch TV less often, while 61% strongly disagree.
The findings are based on a survey of 1,250 households across the US, along with a sample of 250 “teens” ages 12-17, and are part of a new LRG study, Emerging Video Services III.
Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, said: “Time spent watching TV is virtually unchanged from prior years, and multi-channel video subscriptions are at an all time high despite the challenging economic environment.
“While those watching recent episodes of TV shows online increased in the past year, they still represent a small portion of all adults; and this group tends to express less likelihood to switch from their video provider than others. There is next to no evidence of any significant number of consumers currently ‘cutting the cord’ to their multi-channel video subscription to only watch TV shows online (or on other non-TV based devices), and it is unlikely that this type of behaviour will become commonplace in the near-term.”
The coming year will see a rise in online video viewing and a shift to online ad spending, according to a recent report from comScore (see Online video viewing to rise in 2009).
Viewing of TV and movie content online continues to become a more mainstream behaviour, said comScore, offering advertisers a new opportunity to capitalise on this highly engaged audience.
A US analytics report from AccuStream iMedia Research, meanwhile, found that online video gross media spend totaled $2.12 billion in 2008, up 36% v 2007, and is forecast to continue double-digit increases through 2010 at a moderating rate (see Online video media spend to increase).
