A new study from comScore shows that 80% of the UK online population (aged 15 or older who have accessed the internet from either a home or a work computer), initiated a video stream in April 2007, compared to 76% in the US, 79% in France, and 70% in Germany.
According to comScore, UK streamers allocated 10% of their total time online to viewing video.
Bob Ivins, EVP and managing director of comScore Europe, said: “With eight out of 10 people initiating a stream in the UK, streaming is clearly mainstream and one of the more popular things to do online – up there with search, email and shopping.
“What is particularly striking is the fact that those consumers are accessing 16 to 18 streams more, per month, than their counterparts in the US, France or Germany, perhaps indicating that the UK is further along the adoption curve in enjoying streamed video.”
Online Video Streaming By Country, April 2007, Total Online Population Age 15+ (Home and Work Locations*) | |||
Reach of Video Streaming** | % Total Time Online Spent Video Streaming | Video Streams Per Streamer | |
United Kingdom | 80% | 10% | 80 |
United States | 76% | 6% | 65 |
France | 79% | 13% | 64 |
Germany | 70% | 9% | 62 |
*Excludes traffic from public computers such as internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs | |||
**Total Unique Streamers in April 2007/Total Online Population in April 2007 | |||
Source: comScore |
The study also said that of the 1.98 billion streams that were initiated in the UK in April 2007, 38% or 608.1 million were initiated at Google sites (which include YouTube.com).
Rounding out the top five were Yahoo! sites, with 57.7 million streams, BBC sites with 32.2 million streams, Fox Interactive Media with 26.1 million streams and Microsoft sites with 17.3 million streams.
Leading UK Online Video Streaming Sites, April 2007, Total Online Population Age 15+ (Home and Wok Locations*) | |||
Unique Video Streamers and Downloaders | Video Streams and Download Initiated | Video Streams per Streamer | |
Total UK Internet Audience, Age 15+ | 24.8 | 1,982.20 | 80 |
Google sites | 16 | 608.1 | 38 |
Fox Interactive Media | 4.7 | 26.1 | 6 |
Yahoo! Sites | 4.4 | 57.8 | 13 |
BBC Sites | 3.9 | 32.2 | 8 |
Microsoft Sites | 3.1 | 17.3 | 6 |
*Excludes traffic from public computers such as internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs | |||
Source: comScore |
A recent report from eMarketer said that although there are more females online than males, they are less likely to view online video than males are (see Females Less Likely To View Online Video).
Meanwhile, a report from Ofcom in April said that around half (51%) of adults with broadband at home had accessed online video clips in Q4 2006 (see Half Of UK Adults Live In Broadband Households).