Behind the fast
growth of internet TV
Nearly 20 percent of Americans say they watch online
By Heidi Dawley
Sep 9, 2008
More Americans than ever are watching TV online, about a fifth, twice the number two years ago, despite the fact that the viewing experience doesn't come close to that of watching on a TV screen.
Just why is interesting.
As it turns out, avoiding commercials plays only a minor role, and it's actually less a factor than it was two years ago.
The big reason people watch TV online is the flexibility it affords.
A study by the Conference Board, the New York research outfit, reports that 55.4 percent of respondents said they watched TV online so they can see shows on their own schedule. Nearly as many, 52.6 percent, said they did so for personal convenience.
"It allows them tremendous flexibility in terms of where and when they watch it,” Lynn Franco, director the Conference Board Consumer Research Center, which did the study in conjunction with TNS.
“It is very fast growth. Given time pressures, and convenience factors, this is obviously a viewing preference that we expect to grow in the next several years."
The study, based on a quarterly survey of 10,000 households, found the number of folks who say they watch TV online has grown steadily over the last two years, to 19.1 percent. That's up from 15.7 percent in third-quarter 2007 and 9.7 percent in 2006.
And during that period, the number of people who said they watched online to avoid commercials actually fell, to 28 percent from 33.7 percent a year ago.
Another reason cited for watching online was portability, at 7.9 percent.
Most online TV watching still happens at home, at 90 percent, yet 15 percent said they did watch at the office and 6 percent said they also watched elsewhere, such as friends’ houses or the library.
The top destination for web watchers is the host network's homepage, at 65 percent, followed by YouTube.com at 40.8 percent.
Some 11.9 percent said iTunes, followed by 7.6 percent who said Hulu, which has content from NBC, Fox and other networks. File-sharing sites and social networking sites muster 7.4 percent and 6.7 percent respectively.
Only a small, and shrinking, percentage of people said they paid for content, either through a subscriptions service (2.0 percent) or per download (2.3 percent).
While folks are watching a wide range of content online, the top category is news, which some 42.6 percent say they watch online.
That’s followed by drama at 39.3 percent, sitcoms and comedy at 33.5 percent, and reality shows at 22.7 percent. Perhaps surprisingly, only 16.1 percent said they were watching sports content online. Some 3 percent reported watching commercials.
And contrary to perception, folks are not just tuning in for quick snippets of news and shows. In fact, 47.5 percent said they are watching entire episodes or shows. About 45 percent said they watched TV online to catch up on missed shows.
Yet for all the movement online, viewers don’t believe their internet TV viewing is changing their consumption of traditional TV.
While 10.3 percent reported they were watching less TV because of their internet viewing, some 10.8 percent said they were watching more. Overall 78.8 percent said their TV viewing was unchanged.
***
Meanwhile, in online ratings for the week ended Aug. 31, according to Nielsen Online, Google claimed the top spot among parent companies, followed by Microsoft, Yahoo, Time Warner and News Corp. Online. For the 14th straight week, the top five brands were Google, Yahoo, MSN/Windows Live, AOL Media Network and Microsoft.
Experian Group Limited retained the top advertiser spot for the ninth straight week with 3.19 million impressions, followed by Netflix at No. 2 with 1.76 million. With 14.21 million ads served, Yahoo was again the top advertising site, well ahead of No. 2 MSN at 2.29 million.
Sessions per person per week were down one from the previous week to 16, and domains visited per person declined one to 40. PC time per person was down 2 percent compared with the previous week to 17 hours and 46 minutes.
|
Top 25 parent companies
Through Aug. 31 |
|
#
|
Parent
|
Unique Audience (000)
|
Reach %
|
Time Spent per Person (hh:mm:ss)
|
|
1
|
Google
|
93,796
|
66.7
|
0:39:05
|
|
2
|
Microsoft
|
87,237
|
62.1
|
0:46:58
|
|
3
|
Yahoo!
|
78,962
|
56.2
|
1:09:05
|
|
4
|
Time Warner (Division)*
|
59,676
|
42.5
|
1:20:28
|
|
5
|
News Corp. Online
|
44,407
|
31.6
|
0:41:52
|
|
6
|
eBay
|
32,585
|
23.2
|
0:48:16
|
|
7
|
InterActiveCorp
|
31,669
|
22.5
|
0:10:47
|
|
8
|
Amazon
|
25,673
|
18.3
|
0:13:53
|
|
9
|
Wikimedia Foundation
|
23,511
|
16.7
|
0:11:18
|
|
10
|
Turner Network (Division)
|
23,397
|
16.6
|
0:18:54
|
|
11
|
CBS Corporation
|
23,270
|
16.6
|
0:10:55
|
|
12
|
Walt Disney Internet Group
|
22,986
|
16.4
|
0:26:41
|
|
13
|
Apple Computer
|
22,933
|
16.3
|
0:32:55
|
|
14
|
Landmark Communications
|
22,926
|
16.3
|
0:11:26
|
|
15
|
Facebook
|
19,711
|
14.0
|
0:44:35
|
|
16
|
New York Times Company
|
19,697
|
14.0
|
0:09:23
|
|
17
|
AT&T Inc.
|
18,515
|
13.2
|
0:20:50
|
|
18
|
RealNetworks, Inc.
|
16,029
|
11.4
|
0:15:26
|
|
19
|
Comcast Corp.
|
14,082
|
10.0
|
0:27:13
|
|
20
|
CraigsList
|
13,884
|
9.9
|
0:35:13
|
|
21
|
Verizon Communications
|
13,304
|
9.5
|
0:22:21
|
|
22
|
Glam Media
|
12,452
|
8.9
|
0:11:47
|
|
23
|
Bank of America
|
12,384
|
8.8
|
0:21:32
|
|
24
|
Viacom Digital
|
12,284
|
8.7
|
0:21:58
|
|
25
|
E.W. Scripps Company
|
11,889
|
8.5
|
0:06:32
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online
Note: The parent level is defined as a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs owned by a single company or division.
|
|
Top 25 brands
Through Aug. 31 |
|
|
Parent
|
Unique Audience (000)
|
Reach %
|
Time spent per person (hh:mm:ss)
|
|
1 |
Google
|
84,431
|
60.1
|
0:29:28
|
|
2 |
Yahoo!
|
78,081
|
55.5
|
1:09:18
|
|
3 |
MSN/Windows Live
|
67,943
|
48.3
|
0:48:30
|
|
4 |
AOL Media Network
|
53,733
|
38.2
|
1:26:51
|
|
5 |
Microsoft
|
52,378
|
37.3
|
0:15:15
|
|
6 |
Fox Interactive Media
|
37,392
|
26.6
|
0:44:06
|
|
7 |
YouTube
|
36,602
|
26.0
|
0:26:04
|
|
8 |
eBay
|
25,808
|
18.4
|
0:50:50
|
|
9 |
Wikipedia
|
23,053
|
16.4
|
0:11:19
|
|
10 |
Apple
|
22,933
|
16.3
|
0:32:55
|
|
11 |
Weather Channel
|
21,016
|
15.0
|
0:11:46
|
|
12 |
Amazon
|
20,961
|
14.9
|
0:13:32
|
|
13 |
Facebook
|
19,711
|
14.0
|
0:44:35
|
|
14 |
Blogger
|
19,625
|
14.0
|
0:06:00
|
|
15 |
Ask Search Network
|
18,308
|
13.0
|
0:10:14
|
|
16 |
CNN Digital Network
|
18,212
|
13.0
|
0:17:56
|
|
17 |
Real Network
|
16,029
|
11.4
|
0:15:26
|
|
18 |
Craigslist
|
13,881
|
9.9
|
0:35:13
|
|
19 |
AT&T
|
13,719
|
9.8
|
0:25:10
|
|
20 |
Glam Media
|
12,452
|
8.9
|
0:11:47
|
|
21 |
Bank of America
|
11,858
|
8.4
|
0:21:55
|
|
22 |
About.com
|
11,697
|
8.3
|
0:03:40
|
|
23 |
Comcast
|
10,895
|
7.8
|
0:33:39
|
|
24 |
Mozilla
|
10,841
|
7.7
|
0:03:14
|
|
25 |
ESPN
|
10,060
|
7.2
|
0:27:39
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online
Note: The brand level is defined as a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs that has a consistent collection of branded content. |
|
Top 25 advertisers
(excludes house ads)
Through Aug. 31 |
|
#
|
Company
|
Impressions (000)
|
|
1 |
Experian Group Limited
|
3,185,797
|
|
2 |
Netflix, Inc.
|
1,761,834
|
|
3 |
Verizon Communications, Inc.
|
1,560,613
|
|
4 |
Scottrade, Inc.
|
1,313,303
|
|
5 |
NewsMax.com
|
1,020,077
|
|
6 |
General Motors Corporation
|
717,093
|
|
7 |
AT&T Corp.
|
649,333
|
|
8 |
InterActiveCorp
|
557,701
|
|
9 |
Deutsche Telekom AG
|
546,171
|
|
10 |
Ford Motor Company
|
509,244
|
|
11 |
United Online, Inc.
|
504,977
|
|
12 |
Trade-In-Value.com
|
483,557
|
|
13 |
Sprint Corporation
|
478,899
|
|
14 |
FreeScore.com
|
445,682
|
|
15 |
Monster Worldwide, Inc.
|
410,987
|
|
16 |
Vonage Holdings Corp
|
356,436
|
|
17 |
Mighty Net, Inc
|
350,080
|
|
18 |
Microsoft Corporation
|
341,321
|
|
19 |
E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corp.
|
328,627
|
|
20 |
Fandango, Inc.
|
327,429
|
|
21 |
National Council on Problem Gambling
|
321,149
|
|
22 |
Citigroup Inc.
|
297,991
|
|
23 |
Time Warner Inc.
|
294,343
|
|
24 |
American Express Company
|
293,769
|
|
25 |
Nike, Inc.
|
263,194
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance
Note: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance service estimated online advertising expenditures account for CPM-based image-based advertising. All reported estimated expenditures and impressions do not account for the following placement types: text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream ("pre-rolls") players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns. AdRelevance currently does not report estimated spending for paid search advertising. Also, Nielsen Online, AdRelevance reporting data reflects advertising activity served on pages accessible via the World Wide Web and not within AOL's proprietary service. |
|
Top 25 advertising sites
(excludes house ads)
Through Aug. 31 |
|
|
Company
|
Impressions (000)
|
|
1 |
Yahoo!
|
14,214,060
|
|
2 |
MSN
|
2,287,491
|
|
3 |
MSNBC
|
1,905,405
|
|
4 |
MySpace
|
1,601,315
|
|
5 |
Comcast.net
|
1,573,941
|
|
6 |
AOL.com
|
1,138,663
|
|
7 |
FOXNEWS.COM
|
784,024
|
|
8 |
Facebook
|
729,959
|
|
9 |
IMDb
|
518,946
|
|
10 |
eBay
|
489,325
|
|
11 |
The Weather Channel
|
377,625
|
|
12 |
ESPN.com
|
342,021
|
|
13 |
NeoPets
|
339,212
|
|
14 |
The Weather Underground
|
302,765
|
|
15 |
NBC
|
300,386
|
|
16 |
Juno
|
298,140
|
|
17 |
CNN
|
294,855
|
|
18 |
Amazon
|
275,606
|
|
19 |
AT&T Worldnet
|
250,770
|
|
20 |
Project Playlist
|
245,505
|
|
21 |
YouTube
|
238,032
|
|
22 |
CNBC
|
236,061
|
|
23 |
Photobucket
|
233,178
|
|
24 |
Charter.net
|
226,437
|
|
25 |
Pogo
|
210,727
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance
Note: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance service estimated online advertising expenditures account for CPM-based image-based advertising. All reported estimated expenditures and impressions do not account for the following placement types: text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream ("pre-rolls") players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns. AdRelevance currently does not report estimated spending for paid search advertising. Above data does not include any house advertising activity. Also, Nielsen Online, AdRelevance reporting data reflects advertising activity served on pages accessible via the World Wide Web and not within AOL's proprietary service. |
|
Average use
Through Aug. 31 |
|
|
Current Week
|
Last Week
|
% Change
|
|
Sessions/Visits per Person
|
16
|
17
|
-5.88
|
|
Domains Visited per Person
|
40
|
41
|
-2.44
|
|
PC Time per Person
|
17:46:38
|
18:10:53
|
-2.22
|
|
Active Digital Media Universe
|
140,584,691
|
139,826,708
|
0.54
|
|
Current Digital Media Universe Estimate
|
223,760,225
|
223,832,505
|
-0.03
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online |
|
|
|
