There’s a pretty good chance you just finished watching one before you arrived here.
And after seeing how long this post is, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll abandon this in a few seconds to watch a video online instead.
But, don’t worry, you wouldn’t be the only one. Watching video online is becoming the globe’s new pastime, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down (or, uh, buffering).
Just how prevalent is it? These 101 online video stats will be enough to give you a good idea – and I’ll try my best not to have your eyes glaze over like you’re staring at a video screen …
An overview of the world of online video
The demand (and opportunity) for online video is staggering:
- According to a comScore study, released in February 2011, 82.5% of the U.S. Internet audience viewed a video online.
- Viewers watched 75% more videos online in December 2010 than December 2008.
- In a 2010 report from Cisco, 30% of Internet traffic is currently video. By 2013, 90% of Internet traffic will be video.
- Advanced Internet video (3D and HD) will increase 23-fold between 2009 and 2014.
- By 2014, 3D and HD Internet video will include 46% of Internet video traffic.
- In the same time frame, online video ad spending will swell from $1.97 billion to $5.71 billion.
- The length of the average video was 5.1 minutes in February 2011.
- The average online video ad was 24 seconds.
- Video ads accounted for 12.4% of all videos viewed and 1.2% of all minutes spent watching video online.
- Top video ad networks potentially reach the following proportions of the total U.S. population: Google Display Network at 46.7%, Tremor Media at 46.3% and BrightRoll Video Network at 37.3%.
- In February 2011 there were 3.8 million video ads, which averages about 30.2 ads per viewer and reached 42% of the total U.S. population.
- According to comScore Video Metrix, in February 2011 the total U.S. unique video viewers on the Internet was 169,646 with an average of 816.4 minutes per viewer.
- Google sites had 141,065 total unique viewers, averaging 261.6 minutes per viewer in the month.
- VEVO had 48,998 unique viewers averaging 81.2 minutes per viewer.
- Microsoft Sites had 48,812 unique viewers averaging 46.5 minutes per viewer.
- Facebook.com had 46,661 unique viewers averaging 18.5 minutes per viewer.
- Viacom Digital had 45,214 unique viewers averaging 74.2 minutes per viewer.
- Hulu had 27,257 unique viewers averaging 224.3 minutes per viewer.
How engaged are online viewers?
In a competitive marketplace, attention is vital. And the question becomes: are people actually paying attention to videos played on the Internet?
- U.S. online video consumers watched 4.3 hours worth of video on average in the month of June 2010.
- According to a study by Visible Measures, 20% of online video viewers click away from a video in the first 10 seconds or less.
- By 30 seconds into an online video up to 33% of viewers have moved on; at 1 minute 44% have left (regardless of the clip’s length) and almost 60% have abandoned by the 2 minute mark.
- According to Visible Measure’s Matt Cutler, “if your online video campaign has 10 million viewers, 2 million of them saw less than 10 seconds of it. Ouch.”
- Using Flimp media brochures, Rich Media generates a 400%-700% increase in viewer engagement and response rates using online video compared to static content online such as text and graphics.
- Video E-mail messages generate 2-3 X higher click-thru rates compared to static E-mails.
- 144.1 million viewers watched 14.6 billion videos on YouTube.com (101.2 videos per viewer) in May 2010.
- The typical Hulu user viewed 27 videos, totaling 2.7 hours of video per viewer.
How are online video viewers getting their fix?
Depending on the context of the video, user engagement varies:
- A study from Frank Magid Associates reveals that only 1% of digital TV subscribers in the U.S. cancelled their subscriptions because they get their television programs online (via MediaPost).
- 2.5% of U.S. media consumers use the Internet exclusively for video content.
- For long-form television content online (Hulu, NBC etc.) viewership rose 104% from December 2008 to December 2010.
- 16% of people view long-form television content online connecting their computer to their television (using HDMI cable or S-Video etc.).
- The #1 reason for watching television content online over watching on television is that they missed the live episode.
- Roughly 66% of the world’s mobile data traffic will be video by 2014.
- According to MeFeedia, iPad users commit to watching a web video for 5 minutes on average.
- Android users watch for 3 minutes on average.
- iPhone users watch for 2.4 minutes on average.
- Desktop users watch web video for less than 2 minutes on average.
How do online videos benefit retail?
Everyone wins when an online video of a product is provided.
- Catching the e-tail trend, 55% of online retailers used video on product pages in 2009 but this technique increased to 73% of retailers in 2010.
- When a video is present on a product page of LivingDirect.com, consumers spend 9% more time viewing the page compared to when no video is present.
- According to Internet Retailer, an April 2010 report stated that consumers who watch product videos are 85% more likely to buy products compared to those who do not watch.
- Internet Retailer released a study that found shoppers were 144% more likely to add a product to their cart after viewing a product video on StacksandStacks.com compared to shoppers who avoided video.
- In an August 2010 report from comScore, online retail shoppers who watch video spend about two minutes more on that site and are 64% more likely to buy compared to others.
- With social integration, retail sites that provide videos increase traffic and conversions to social media platforms by 30% according to the September 2010 L2 Specialty Retail Report.
- In-store sales increased 6% when Reckitt Benckiser provided online video for their consumer packaged goods.
- 46% of consumers who shop online regularly prefer shopping on retail sites providing product video compared to 30% of consumers who occasionally shop online.
- By properly implementing video to their sitemaps, Discovery Channel increased their video streams by 123%.
- Watching a minute of video is the equivalent of reading 1.8 million words according to Dr. James McQuivey of Forrester Research
How is online video changing the industry of business?
Watching a video can have an impact on your business’ bottom line, especially as high-level executives flock to video channels.
- According to emarketer.com, a majority of businesspeople surveyed by Forbes in October 2010 said they watched more video currently compared to last year.
- Virtually 60% of respondents said they would watch video previous to reading text on the same webpage, and 22% said they generally liked watching video more than browsing text for examining business information.
- 75% of all executives said they watched work-related videos on business websites at least once a week, and more than 50% use YouTube to watch those videos.
- 65% of U.S. executives surveyed by Forbes in October 2010 visit a vendor’s website after viewing a work-related online video.
- 53% conducted a search for a vendor/product/service for more information.
- 42% made a business related purchase.
What is the relationship between online video and advertisements?
Online video opens the door for dramatic advertisement advantages.
- The report entitled “Frames of reference: Online Video advertising” produced by the Online Publishers Association (OPA) published that 80% of visitors who watched an online video advertisement, and around 46% took some action.
- According to that report, roughly 22% of viewers visited the website related to the ad.
- 26% looked for more information.
- 15% visited the company.
- 12% purchased that specific product.
- In 2011, 45% of small businesses are growing their budget for online video (up from 2010 by 17%) according to the Ad-Ology study, “2011 Small Business Marketing Forecast.”
Who is the leader in online video?
YouTube is the main platform for online video.
- YouTube holds about 40% of the online video audience each month.
- On YouTube, over 13 million hours of video was uploaded in 2010 and 35 hours of video was uploaded every minute. That is comparable to 150,000+ full-length movies.
- More video is uploaded to YouTube in 60 days than the 3 major U.S. networks produced in 60 years.
- Only 30% of YouTube traffic comes from within the U.S.
- YouTube is confined in 25 countries including 43 languages.
- 94 of AdAge’s Top 100 advertisers run ad campaigns on YouTube and the Google Display Network.
- The amount of advertisers using display ads on YouTube increased 10 fold in the last year.
- An AutoShared Tweet typically creates about six new youtube.com sessions.
- More than 50% of videos on YouTube are rated or include comments from viewers.
- YouTube mobile receives more than 100 million views a day.
- 10% of YouTube’s videos are obtainable in HD.
What does this all mean?
If you read through all 101 statistics your mind is likely shot. Which is why you’re probably going to close this window and head for the nearest online video, which won’t be hard, because videos are everywhere, and people are watching.
My only question is, will they find your organization’s video out there?
[image: c_emery]