A compendium of online video research

Audience Size/Growth

• Nearly 75 percent of U.S. Internet users watched an average of 158 minutes of online video per user during the month. (July 17, 2007 ComScore)
• The research found that online video viewing is a common activity for many Internet users. More than half of those surveyed (51%) indicated that they watch video online at least once a month, 27% watch at least once a week and five percent watch video online daily. (Feb. 8, 2005 OPA)
• A recent report from technology research firm In-Stat indicates that the potential market for online video content worldwide will grow from 13 million households in 2005 to 131 million households in 2010. (August 11, 2006, eMarketer)
• Young adults (those ages 18-29) are among the most voracious video viewers. Three-in-four young adult internet users (76%) report online consumption of video, compared with 57% of online adults ages 30-49. Less than half (46%) of internet users ages 50-64 watch or download video. (July 25, 2007 Pew)
• 44% of the overall US population age 12 or older having ever streamed a digital video file off of the Internet – or approximately 100 million Americans. (April 2, 2007 IPSOS)
• Three in four of all teens age 12-17 and young adults age 18-24 in the US have streamed digital video content online. (April 2, 2007 IPSOS)

Broadband Penetration

• Three-quarters of broadband users (74%) who enjoy high-speed connections at both home and work watch or download video online. (July 25, 2007 Pew)
• An estimated 81 million people, or 63% of the 129 million people who access the Internet over broadband in the U.S., watch broadband video at home or at work. (July 17, 2007 Nielsen)
• 47% of adults have high-speed internet connections at home as of early March 2007, up five percentage points from a year earlier. (July 3, 2007 Pew)
• Among individuals who use the internet at home, 70% have a broadband connection while 23% use dialup. (July 3, 2007 Pew)
• In-stat predicts that by 2010 there will be 413 million broadband households worldwide, up from 194 million in 2005. (August 11, 2006 eMarketer)

Audience Interests

• News content captures the attention of users across all generations, and is the most popular genre with every age group except for those ages 18-29. (July 25, 2007 Pew)
• News clips, viewed by 66% of those surveyed, are the most commonly watched type of online video, followed by movie clips and trailers at 49%. However, sports highlights are watched most frequently, with 48% watching at least once a week, and 11% watching daily. (Feb. 8, 2005 OPA)
• Those with higher levels of income and education are more likely to report news video viewing. (July 25, 2007 Pew)
• What are people watching? Short content pieces, according to the study. 77% watch movie trailers or clips, 75% watch clips of news, sports or commentary and 67% view user-generated clips/home movies. About 48% also click to view commercials that sponsor the clips. (April 16, 2007BizReport)
• Three quarters of all digital video users have streamed short news or sports clips, (April 2, 2007IPSOS)
• Overall, 62% of online video viewers say that their favorite videos are those that are "professionally produced," while 19% of online video viewers express a preference for content "produced by amateurs." (July 25, 2007 Pew)
• Two thirds have downloaded amateur or homemade video clips. (April 2, 2007IPSOS)
• Users who post video are a much smaller group than those who watch; about one in twelve (8%) adult users say they have uploaded a video file online where others can watch it. (July 25, 2007Pew)
• Young adults also trump older users in their experience with posting video content; 15% of users ages 18-29 have uploaded videos, compared with 8% of those 30-49 and roughly 5% of users age 50 and older who have posted video for others to watch. (July 25, 2007 Pew)
• Young adults are almost twice as likely to point to YouTube as a source for online video; 49% of video viewers ages 18-29 say they watch YouTube videos. (July 25, 2007 Pew)
• Young adults are the most "contagious carriers" in the viral spread of online video. Two-in-three (67%) video viewers ages 18-29 send others links to videos they find online, compared with just half of video viewers ages 30 and older. (July 25, 2007 Pew)
• Fully 57% of online video viewers share links to the videos they find online with others. (July 25, 2007 Pew)
• Overall, 10% of video viewers say they share links with others by posting them to a website or blog. Again, younger users have a greater tendency to share what they find; while 22% of video viewers ages 18-29 post links to video online, just 7% of those ages 30-49 do so. (July 25, 2007 Pew)
• 75% of video viewers say they have received links to online video content. (July 25, 2007 Pew)
• Fully 57% of online video viewers share links to the videos they find online with others. (July 25, 2007 Pew)
• 45 percent of people only view videos when they are recommended by a friend or colleague. (July 11, 2007 Kelton Research)
• 60 percent of Americans feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of online videos and 46 percent of these people do not watch more online videos because they dread the task of weeding through too many search results. (July 11, 2007Kelton Research)
• 43% of all digital video downloaders express some level of interest in downloading full length movies in the near future, while 38% express interest in full length TV show downloads. (April 2, 2007IPSOS)
• Based on respondent feedback, widespread consumer use of broadband video seems to be contingent on Internet platform video content becoming more easily accessible via home television sets. (July 17, 2007 Nielsen)
• Yet another sign of young adults’ mobile tech lifestyle, those ages 18-29 are more than twice as likely when compared with any other age group to watch online video from someplace other than home or work. (July 25, 2007 Pew)

Revenue/Advertising

• At the moment, few online video viewers are paying for any of the video they watch; just 7% say they have paid to access or download video online. (July 25, 2007 Pew)
• The most common barriers to downloading (longer form video) are users’ unwillingness to pay for this content, as well as a perceived difficulty or inability to burn these files onto DVD (April 2, 2007 IPSOS)
• When asked if they ever use the internet to watch or download commercials or advertisements, 13% of internet users say “yes.” (July 25, 2007 Pew)
• Young adults are twice as likely as users age 50 and older to say they watch or download commercial videos online; 22% of those 18-29, 13% of users ages 30-49, 7% of users age 50-64 and 8% of those ages 65 and older say they consume commercial video content online. (July 25, 2007 Pew)
• More than half (56.3%) of online video viewers recall seeing advertisem content they have watched. Among respondents, one out of two (52.7%) say they typically continue watching video content once they encounter an advertising unit; 40.4% say they typically stop watching. Interestingly, one-quarter (27.9%) of respondents who stop watching video content once they encounter an advertisement also say they immediately leave the website (Dec. 1, 2006BurstMedia)
• The data revealed that consumers have a strong positive reaction to online video ads. Seventy percent of respondents said they had seen a video advertisement online, and 44% said they had taken some action as a result of seeing that ad. Specifically, 34% checked out a Web site, 15% requested information and 14% went to a store to check out a product. Most significantly, 9% said they made a purchase and 3% said they bought a subscription as a result of viewing an online video ad. (Feb. 8, 2005 OPA)
• At 0.32 percent, consumers are roughly twice as likely to play (or replay if a video starts automatically) an online video ad unit, as they are to click through on a standard JPG or GIF ad (March 20, 2007 DoubleClick)
• Online video ads experience click-through rates ranging from 0.4 percent to 0.74 percent depending on the online video format. By comparison, the click-through rate for plain GIF or JPG image ads ranges between 0.1 and 0.2 percent, based on DoubleClick data. (March 20, 2007 DoubleClick)
• Last year rich media and video advertising accounted for roughly $1.5 billion in spending, for 9 percent of total online ad spending. It's projected to grow to $6.2 billion, or 17 percent of online advertising spending, by 2011. In other words, online video advertising will quadruple in five years. (March 29, 2007 ClickZ)
• Online video advertising outperforms other online formats for branding. Based on 106 campaigns, Dynamic Logic's Q3 2006 MarketNorms data shows online video ads delivered a 6.1 percentage point improvement in aided brand awareness; a 18.1 percentage point improvement in online ad awareness; and a 9.3 percentage point improvement in message association. (March 29, 2007ClickZ)
• About 8 percent of the video ads, on average, generated some form of user interaction with the ad unit, including expansion, video control buttons, custom interactions, and clicks. The most frequent action was ad replay (0.32 percent), which occurred more often than clicking through a standard JPG or GIF ad (0.10 percent). (March 29, 2007 ClickZ)
• Online video ads had higher CTRs (define) (0.40-0.74 percent), about four times the rate for image ads (0.10-0.15 percent). (March 29, 2007 ClickZ)
• Pre-roll advertising is annoying to users, according to Forrester Research (Forrester Research)
• Borrell Associates is releasing a new report today that reveals that newspaper sites grossed $81 million in local video advertising in 2006, compared to $32 million for local TV sites. (Feb. 12, 2007Lost Remote)
• The value of the total online-video market — both pay and ad supported — will be worth $15.6 billion by 2012. (July 12, 2007 Direct Marketing News)