While the usage statistics from online video sites and traffic reports about peer-to-peer activity justify the attention they’re getting, the vast majority of consumers are hardly abandoning their TVs for their PCs yet. Four percent of all adults over age 18 in the U.S. watch video online at home daily, and an additional 14 percent do so at least once a week. Meanwhile, 93 percent of adults spend at least one hour a day, on average, watching TV, according to Leichtman Research Group (LRG).
While total online video usage has increased in the past year, the percentage of adults watching online video remains relatively unchanged. The same people are consuming more online video.
Other findings in the LRG study, “Emerging Video Services,” include:
• Men of ages 18 to 34 account for 41 percent of those who view video online on a daily basis, while comprising just 14 percent of the online subscribers sample.
• Men of ages 18 to 34 account for over two-thirds of adults who view YouTube and other user-generated content daily.
• Just 8 percent of those who watch video online strongly agree that they now watch TV less often.
“As with most forms of media and entertainment, online video is following the traditional ‘heavy hand’ model of a minority of users driving the majority of the usage,” said LRG President Bruce Leichtman. “Rather than replacing TV, in the near-term, emerging video services like online video are best viewed as opportunities to complement and augment traditional TV viewing options.”