Nielsen: Internet Video Viewing Up 50 Percent
May 20th, 2009 | By Elisabeth Lewin | Category: Video 
American television consumption is on the rise, on every platform available, according to a new report from The Nielsen Company. Monthly time spent watching video on the Internet grew especially quickly, up over 50 percent since the first quarter of last year.
Nielsen’s quarterly “Three Screen Report” looks at Americans’ media consumption habits, and this latest edition reveals that the average American watches a staggering 153 hours of TV every month at home, a 1.2% increase from last year.
The Internet video-watching numbers are dwarfed in comparison: the 131 million Americans who do watch video on the Internet watch an average of only about three hours of video online each month (both at home and at work.) However, this figure is still significantly higher than the average hour and 57 minutes people spent watching Internet video each month, during the same time period last year.
The 13.4 million Americans who watch video on mobile phones watch on average about 3 ½ hours of mobile video each month, but figures for mobile video watching were not tracked at this time last year, so one can’t examine how and whether that figure is greater than during the same time in 2008.
Neilsen credits “strong brand marketing” and big news events like the Super Bowl and the Presidential Inauguration with the strong growth in online video-watching during the first-quarter of 2009. They forecast continued growth in Internet video audiences, as more people get broadband Internet connections and computer hardware with better video-streaming capabilities.
The report also forecasts growth in mobile video consumption, with more and better mobile content available, and the rise of the mobile web as a viewing option. A more detailed explanation of Neilsen’s “Three Screen Report” can be found here.
Bite-sized is not the way to go. Too much trouble for me, as a user, to find, sample, cue up as I’m driving, etc … What I like is long format content that deals with niches that I am interested in. Bertone Beatles Bonanza comes to mind. Frequently an hour long, rambling, obviously not professionally produced, but fascinating and compelling with the attention to obscure fan-fodder that you can’t find in mainstream content. The differential advantage of podcasting over broadcasting is this “long tail” effect; the fact that someone, somewhere, shares your passion, no matter how obscure, and is willing to be a conduit for information and entertainment related to it.
Sorry. My previous post was meant for the next story. Please ignore/remove.
To their suggestions we add a few of our own, but only after a consensus is built. ,
It amazes me how few people hook up their computers to their TVs to watch online content.
Although would online video show its lack of quality on a 42″ screen? YouTube is fine for watching on a laptop, but most uploads are pretty poor quality.
I guess if people are going to start watching video through the internet on better screens, then YouTube bloggers and contributers will have to improve their video recording setups.