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WHY CONSUMERS WATCH ONLINE (STREAMING) VIDEO

Entertainment                 XX%

I can watch
whenever I want               XX%

To catch up on
show I missed                 XX%

It's easier to avoid
commercials (than on TV)      XX%

To unwind/relax               XX%

To relieve boredom            XX%

The content is unique         XX%

It's easier to get
information this way          XX%

For education/instruction     XX%

Prefer watching on
computer or mobile device     XX%

I do not have cable           XX%

To feel a sense
of community                   X%

I do not have a TV             X%

NOTE: Multiple responses allowed

SOURCE: OMD

Note: Table made from bar graph.

Full article

Americans may be watching more movies and videos via the Internet than ever. But they continue to spend millions of hours "just browsing" websites--and for this portion of consumers' Internet time, social networks and blogs rule.

Social networks and blogs consumed nearly one quarter of Americans' Internet browsing time in May (XX.X%), outstripping the time that online adults spent browsing game sites (X.X%) or video/movie sites (X.X%), according to Nielsen.

The research firm tells EML that the percentages only reflect time spent browsing sites. So if that single-digit percentage for video-specific and movie-related sites (everything from YouTube and Netflix to IMDb.com) appears small, that's because the figure is not inclusive of time consumers spend streaming videos and movies from those sites.

Still, in movie terms, the time Americans spend browsing social networks and blogs is epic. Among social networks, Facebook dominates: the site reached XX% of active U.S. Internet users in May, garnering XXX.X million unique visitors during the month. That's more than twice the traffic of the month's second highest property, blog network Blogger, which attracted a collective XX.X million unique users.

Facebook also ran circles around Internet rivals such as YouTube in terms of time spent browsing on the site. Facebook users racked up XX.X billion minutes on the site in May, to YouTube viewers' X.X billion minutes.

Nielsen takes account of time that American adults spend on various Internet sites from both home and work computers.

Mobile Entertainment

While social networking is on the rise among mobile consumers, games and music also remain popular, via the mobile web or native apps for devices. Nearly half of social media users (XX%) have downloaded or played music through their mobile devices--more than any other category, including social networks themselves (XX%). Meanwhile, one in four (XX%) view music as a mobile device's most valuable feature.

Among smartphone owners who download apps, XX% have downloaded music apps, while XX% have downloaded social networking apps and XX% have downloaded game apps (the highest percentage).

Online Video: Viewing Time Grows

Irrespective of the disparity between time spent on social networks and time spent watching online video, the latter form of entertainment is still growing--and winning over some groups entirely from traditional television.

More than half of U.S. Internet users watch videos online at least once a week and nearly a quarter watch them daily, according to Frank Magid Associates. Viewing of online videos has grown among every age group of Internet users ages X-XX since 2010. Internet users ages XX and older spend an average of X.X hours per week watching online videos, up from X.X hours per week in 2010.

More than XXX million people watched online video in the U.S. during February 2011, viewing XX billion streaming videos, according to a separate study by OMD.

More than half (XX%) of those who watch online video weekly or more often are male, and viewership is growing fastest among XX-XX-year-old men, according to Frank Magid Associates. Men ages XX-XX who watch online videos are more likely to consider their computer their primary entertainment medium than their television (XX% vs. XX%).

The total online video audience, however, is XX% male/XX% female, according to May 2011 comScore data cited by OMD.

User-Generated Videos Remain Popular

Consumer-created videos such as those on YouTube are the most widely viewed genre, although viewership of full-length TV programs and movies is growing, Magid finds.

Four in XX consumers overall (XX%) still consider television their primary entertainment medium, while XX% cite computers as theirs.

Although previous Nielsen studies found that avid video viewers had the heaviest viewing across all formats, this pattern is shifting; there's now a correlation between heavy viewing of online (streaming) video and light viewing of traditional TV, according to Nielsen. The pattern is most pronounced among adults ages XX-XX--among consumers in this age group, those who spend the most time watching online videos spend the least time watching TV, and vice versa.

SOURCES: Frank Magid Associates, Andrew Hare, Research Analyst, XXXX Normandale Lake Blvd., #XXX, Minneapolis, MN XXXXX; XXX-XXX-XXXX; ahare@magid.com; www.magid.com.

OMD, Pamela Marsh, Director, Custom Research & Insights, XXX Broadway, XXth Fl., New York, NY XXXXX; XXX-XXX-XXXX; pamela.marsh@annalect.com; www.omd.com.

Nielsen, Kathleen Mathus, Communications Analyst, Television, XXX Broadway, New York, NY XXXXX; XXX-XXX-XXXX; kathleen.mathus@nielsen.com; www.nielsen.com.

HOW ONLINE (STREAMING) VIDEO VIEWERS FIND NEW
VIDEOS TO WATCH

Going directly
to a website             XX%

Search engine            XX%

Clicking on link sent
by friends/family        XX%

Clicking on link
from another website     XX%

Clicking on link
...