Stat Sheet

News and YouTube: what consumers are watching online - May 15, 2008

While studios and the movie download industry wait for the PC to be connected to the TV for real video growth, a new report out shows that more and more consumers are already using their PCs in the same way they use their TV set.

While nearly half of all consumers, 43%, watch user-generated video during a typical month, more, 51% watched local or national news online, according to the report "What It Really Means to Watch TV Online" from Forrester Research examining Internet user viewing habits in fourth quarter 2007.

Report author James L. McQuivey claims online video has gone beyond being just a YouTube phenomenon, with more consumers watching TV and movies online.

About 24% of Internet consumers watch episodes of TV shows, while 17% watch full-length movies. Both come ahead of adult entertainment, which accounted for 13% of online video watching.

McQuivey writes in the report that consumers are increasingly using the Internet for time shifting of TV programs and predicts that in 2008 more consumers will watch TV shows online than on DVRs.

TV networks are driving interest by putting more TV shows online and advertisers are spending millions on online streamed video, but McQuivey suggests that online video product managers and TV networks experiment with windows for TV shows to generate more ad dollars.

Forrester found that 18% of online video viewers have connected their PC to the TV. Of those that have, 37% watch online video on their TV in a typical month.

"Now that people know they can satisfy their TV urges with the help of the Net, they will increasingly look for ways to get that same convenience on the TV, either through improved VOD or by hooking up a PC to the TV," McQuivey writes in the report. -- J.N.

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