Late last year I wrote about The Top 10 Video Sites and the demographics of each site. Well a new study by Forrester Consulting for Veoh Networks in August updates some of the demographic data about who is watching videos online.
The Forrester study showed that viewers who watch more than 1 hour of online video a week make up nearly 40% of all viewers and watch nearly 75% of all Web video watched. These active viewers tend to be younger than the general population and are highly engaged when watching online video, paying attention to longer programming and the ads that run with it. The last point is an important one for advertisers it shows that engaged viewers are more likely to interact with video and be receptive to advertising.
“This is no longer just a YouTube phenomenon,” said James McQuivey, a principal analyst at Forrester. “People are watching everything.”
“As online video viewing continues to grow as a primary source of entertainment, it will create many new opportunities for content providers and advertisers alike to reach engaged, influential audiences,” said Steve Mitgang, CEO of Veoh Networks, in a statement on eMarketer.
Mediapost had some more information on the Veoh study and they reported that not surprisingly the online video demographic skews younger, with roughly one-third between 13 and 34, and are more likely to watch videos all the way through and interact and rate content than less devoted viewers. And 37% say they pay more attention to online video than a TV show because it’s not as likely to be on just in the background.
More important to advertisers, this group is twice as likely to recall in-video and pre-roll ads and agree more readily that that advertising is a fair exchange for watching video without paying. McQuivey stressed that engaged viewers are open to advertising but that it has to be “fair, useful and entertaining. It has to meet those three criteria.”
In an interesting turnaround Patrick Keane, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at CBS Interactive, said that 35% of the networks’ viewers say they’re watching more TV because of programs distributed online. That is really interesting as the traditional thought process was that people were watching video online to “escape” from the TV. It appears that creating good quality web-only material for TV shows can actually drive people back to watching more TV!
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