“At this point, video is just a regular part of the web. But how is it gaining on regular TV watching? Just in terms of audience reach, Nielsen estimates that almost 145 million people watch video online in the U.S., compared to about 290 million who watch traditional TV. So the penetration of online video is already about half of the overall TV-watching population.” –TechCrunch
The numbers above indicate that online video watching may be giving flatscreens a run for their money. However if we look more closely at the amount of time spent viewing online videos vs. traditional television, the numbers tell a very different story. TechCrunch continues:
“In a report put out yesterday on the State of the Media summarizing 2011 data, Nielsen estimates Americans spend an average of 32 hours and 47 minutes a week watching traditional TV. They only spend an average of 3 hours and 58 minutes a week on the Internet, and only 27 minutes a week watching video online.”
This sheds a new light on first perceptions. The average American spends far less recreational time viewing online videos when compared to traditional television, and there are a few reasons for that. The most popular video sites on the web — by number of users — are sites like YouTube, MSN, Yahoo and Facebook. Compare these to the most popular video sites based upon actual time spent viewing content, which include Netflix, Hulu and Megavideo. The latter group hosts full-length movies and television shows from your computer, while most videos you’ll find on YouTube, Facebook and others are short clips ranging from a few seconds to a few minutes. This shows that when looking at online viewing numbers, you have to dig deeper than just viewer numbers, because it doesn’t tell you the whole story. The number of viewers doesn’t have a direct correlation to the amount of time spent viewing like traditional television, where shows are 30 minutes or an hour.
Even though online video viewing still accounts for a very short portion of the average American’s time spent watching entertainment, it is a very relevant thing to watch. As the numbers shift to include more time spent online viewing, there is a brand new revenue stream for advertisers and producers. It will take more time for Netflix and other full-length video hosting sites to come close to time spent watching traditional television, but it is a rapidly growing industry that media companies will surely take advantage of.
