INSIGHTanalysis: Media Healthcheck – August 2009
At the start of August, a report from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life project revealed that online video viewing is on the up in the US.
The research showed that 62% of US adult internet users have watched online video on a video-sharing website, up from 33% in 2006.
It also found that 19% of US online adults use video-sharing sites on a typical day (compared with 8% in 2006). The April 2009 survey said that video watching among American young adults is near-universal, with nine in 10 (89%) internet users ages 18-29 now saying they view content on video-sharing sites (up from 72% in 2008), and 36% do so on a typical day.
There were a few reports looking at US online video released in August, with eMarketer predicting that spending on online video will account for 4.3% of total online ad spending and 1.6% of television ad spending in the US this year.
By 2013, eMarketer estimates online video spending will account for 11% of online ad spending and 5.5% of the TV ad spend. It expects to see growth over 40% for four years, dipping to slightly over 30% in 2013.
Ipsos Media CT, meanwhile, found that in the past 30 days, 26% of online Americans have streamed a full-length TV show and 14% have streamed a full-length movie.
Brian Pickens, senior research manager at Ipsos MediaCT, said: “The digital video revolution is no longer centred on short clips via YouTube; it is becoming an important distribution channel where any type of full-length video can be instantly accessed for immediate consumption without a fee.”
Online video viewing research released towards the end of the month – also focusing on the US – by The Nielsen Company showed a 14.2% year on year increase in unique viewers to almost 136 million.
Total streams were up 31.4% to more than 11.2 billion in July, with average streams per viewer up 15.1% to 82.4, the research firm said.
In other research, The Nielsen Company revealed that mobile phone websites was the fastest growing online sector over the past 12 months.
It said that mobile phone websites saw a 58% increase in unique UK visitors from 7.7 million in July 2008 to 12.2 million in July 2009, with almost all players in the sector experiencing strong growth.