Video snacking – watching short, on demand Internet video over your lunch hour.

Lunch Is The New Prime Time

Nielsen has released new research that identifies “video snacking” as a real trend.

Internet video viewing peaks during lunchtime hours on weekdays:

• Streaming activity at the top network TV Web sites peaks during the weekday lunchtime hours of 12 p.m. ‚Äì 2 p.m.
• At consumer generated media Web sites, the most popular time for viewing was during late night hours on the weekend, between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Mainstream Television Is The Preferred Video Snack

“These results indicate that the largest appetite for streaming broadcast content is during the noontime hours, when viewers take a break from work to catch up on the shows they enjoy,” said Pond. “Primetime visitors to network Web sites primarily enhance their TV viewing experience with features like online voting, Web-only promotions and other program specific content, although there is some interest in streaming network content during the evening as well.”

While Nielsen attributes the fact that people prefer mainstream TV for video snacking to the enhanced TV viewing experience, there’s a better explanation: a lot of companies block YouTube from their networks, and people don’t want to get caught watching Chris Crocker, Perez Hilton or Hot For Words at their desks.

The research suggests that people are more interested in user-generated video than current mainstream offerings, but that people see current user-generated video sites as not safe for work.

Image: bookgrl