PC-video viewing jumps by almost a third
Mobile-video viewing surges in the past year, IBM says
By Danny King -- Video Business, 11/17/2008
NOV. 17 | Web-video viewing on personal computers grew by almost a third in the past year, while mobile-video viewing grew even faster as consumers worldwide are more comfortable receiving entertainment away from the TV and content providers expand their inventory of TV shows, movies and music videos, according to an IBM report released today.
Additionally, about 70% of those who watched video on PCs and mobile devices said they preferred an advertisement-supported revenue model for content delivery, as opposed to paying subscription fees, IBM said, citing a third-quarter online survey of 2,800 respondents in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Germany, India and Japan.
More than three-quarters of those surveyed worldwide by IBM said they had watched videos on their PCs, up from 60% a year earlier, while the percentage of those who said they had watched videos on portable devices such as mobile phones jumped to 32% from 22% last year. Such numbers are likely to continue to increase as online-video quality improves with bandwidth expansion, according to Karen Feldman, global media and entertainment industry research lead at IBM.
“In terms of viewing online video, we still do have a little ways to go in terms of making it truly high quality,” Feldman said. “Once we get to a point where, from a user’s perspective, there’s no differing between viewing online versus TV, that’s when we may lead to a jump in interest.”
The jump in PC-video watching is consistent with other reports that more Americans are watching more videos each month. In July, U.S. consumers watched 558 hours of online videos, up about 40% from a year earlier, with YouTube parent Google accounting for about 44% of the videos watched, ComScore said in September.
Such viewing habits are likely hurting the TV industry, as half of those who had watched Web videos on their PCs said they had cut back on their TV viewing, IBM said.
With that in mind, content distributors and component makers are finding more ways for consumers to watch videos directly on their TV sets. Last week, ABI research said a number of Internet-enabled electronics components will more than triple during the next five years, allowing more consumers to integrate Web functions with their TVs, DVD players and videogames consoles.
TV makers are making more of their sets with ports that allow for Internet access, while features such as BD Live let owners of Blu-ray Disc players communicate to each other through the Internet. Additionally, content distributors such as Netflix are encouraging Internet capability in components by recently reaching agreements to stream its movie and TV titles directly to TVs through LG Electronics and Samsung Blu-ray players as well as Microsoft Xbox games consoles and TiVo digital-video recorders.
Whether Web videos are being watched on TVs, PC screens or mobile devices, more than two people in the IBM survey preferred an ad-supported revenue model for every one who favored a paid subscription. Most of those surveyed said they preferred the ads to come either before or after the film or TV show and weren’t fans of product placement.
“The model they found least interesting was the TV model and product-placement sponsorship,” Feldman said. “Companies have to be very careful with their advertising strategies online.”
