Research company Nielsen has recently published their Three Screen Report. Even though the report just focuses on US viewer habits, it paints a very interesting picture on how we’re changing the way that we view video content.
According to the report, the average American watches 153 hours of television per month, compared to 3 hours watching online video. Now, ignoring the fact that an average of 4.7 hours of a day is a huge amount of TV in anyone’s book, the interesting finding is that the ‘online’ figure has increased by a massive 53.2% over just a twelve month period.
The Continued Growth In Viewing Online Video
Moreover, that figure is continuing to grow. Just over 131 million Americans watch video on the internet every month – 15 million more than last year. In addition, the growth in watching online video on internet-enabled devices (such as smartphones) is up by over 52% to over 13 million, with each viewer watching on average 3.5 hours of video each month.
I have written about the imminent explosion in online video before, and these figures certainly seem to support the industry’s predictions. Admittedly, much of the growth in online video can be attributed to viewers watching content that was previously broadcast on TV – using services such as Hulu in the US. Much of the growth in US online viewing in the first quarter of this year was driven by large events such as President Obama’s inauguration, and the SuperBowl.
However, user-generated content on sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion, Viddler and the like are still drawing in more than 130 million unique viewers worldwide, every month. Whatever business you’re in, a percentage of that number represent prospective customers. If your business is not visible in the market spaces that your customers frequent, you’re missing out on huge potential commercial opportunities.