Savvy marketers have realized that for the same price they once paid for a glossy ad or 30-second TV spot, they can now own their fully branded publication, video series, or interactive online platform.
Moreover, they’re providing the same high-quality and engaging content found in those third-party publications and broadcast outlets, offering it to mainstream audiences for free and, in essence, competing with those very outlets that used to serve their advertising needs.
comScore, Inc. today released November 2009 data from the comScore Video Metrix service, showing that more than 170 million U.S. Internet users watched online video during the month. Online video viewing continued to reach record levels in November with nearly 31 billion videos viewed during the month, and Google Sites accounting for 39 percent of all videos viewed online in the U.S.
Adult internet users in the US are now spending an average of 13 hours a week online, and half of adult internet users have purchased something online in the last month, according to the results from a recent poll from Harris Interactive.
Online Time Increases Over Years
The Harris Poll found that over the years the average number of hours spent online has increased from seven hours in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002, to between eight and nine hours in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.
In 2007, weekly time online increased to 11 hours. Last year (in October after the financial crisis broke and before the presidential election) internet users were online for 14 hours per week, double the amount of time spent 1999 to 2002, the poll found.
Threaten Traditional Distribution
Video streaming in the US market is quickly eradicating illegal content downloading, but also is threatening traditional packaged sales of music, TV and film, according to the most recent findings from the Global Web Index, a collaboration between Lightspeed Research and Trendstream.
According to the research, watching online video has become mainstream, with almost 70% of US internet users watching video clips, 28% watching full-length TV and video programming and 19% sharing videos. Nearly three in 10 (29%) of US internet users have downloaded free TV shows/films.
