More than 157 million U.S. Internet users viewed online video during the month of June, the largest audience recorded for a single month, according to a new report from comScore.
The rise in video viewing is mainly due to important news stories during June, including Michael Jackson’s death and the Iranian elections, which generated significant gains particularly at major media properties such as Viacom Digital (includes MTV), Microsoft sites (includes MSNBC) and Turner Network (includes CNN).
YouTube Drives Surge In Online Video Viewing
Americans viewed a record 16.8 billion videos online in April, a 16 percent increase over March, according to new data from comScore.
A surge in video viewing at YouTube during April contributed to the month’s significant gains.
Google sites were once again the most popular property with 6.8 billion videos viewed (40.7 percent online video market share), a 15 percent increase over March. YouTube accounted for more than 99 percent of all videos viewed at the property.
Increase Online Video Viewing by 40%
Research conducted by PLYmedia shows that subtitles in online videos increase the the amount of time a user spends watching them by 40%. Furthermore, in a comparison between subtitled videos to identical videos without subtitles, PLYmedia found that the videos with subtitles were watched 91% to completion, compared with 66% to completion for those without subtitles.
Study Looks at Video Viewing Demographics
A study from Nielsen and Ball State University found that 45-54 year-olds are the top consumers of video media. The study ran over the course of a year.
Data was gathered from traditional TVs (including DVD/VCR and DVR viewing), computers, mobile devices and other small screens like in-cinema movies, GPS and display screens outside of the home. Some key findings include:
Online Video Viewing Grows by 10% in the UK
Online video has grown by 10% in the UK in terms of its audience during the past year. It is up to 29.6 million unique viewers age 15 and older according to research from comScore.
4 billion videos were viewed online in the UK in January alone. 99.5 million (2.5%) of these were watched on the sites of the top 5 TV broadcasters: the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, and Sky. Here’s a look at the top online video properties:
MySpace Creates Widget For Traditional TV Viewing
MySpace has launched a widget designed on the new Widget Channel TV application framework being co-developed by Intel and Yahoo!.
Online Video Viewing Doubles
The number of people watching online video through a browser has doubled over the past year, going from 32 percent a year a go to 63 percent today, according to a new ABI Research study.ABI says the growth is due to the amount of rich content available in ad-supported format on portals and via social networks, along with increasing demand from people for video in both short-and long-form online content.
Online Viewing Becoming A TV Substitute
A higher percentage of people are going online to watch primetime TV shows, according to a new report from Integrated Media Measurement Inc. (IMMI).More than twenty percent of people view some amount of primetime television online. Within the group of online viewers, 50 percent are watching programming as it becomes available and are using the computer as replacement for the television set. The other 50 percent are using the Internet to watch previous programs they missed, or to re-watch clips of episodes they have already seen.
Online Video Viewing Continues To Rise
More and more people are consuming online video, primarily, say researchers, because of the increasing availability of broadband connections. As mobile devices become more ubiquitous, so too is mobile video consumption.
Online TV Viewing Increasing
About 16 percent of American households who use the Internet watch television broadcasts online according to The Conference Board and TNS. The number of people watching entire episodes has doubled from a year ago.