When Ipsos, a market research company specializing in media content and technologies, released the latest survey results in their report on Online Video Streaming earlier this month, no one should have been surprised at the direction the numbers were heading. The magnitude of the increase, however, revealed how quickly America’s entertainment behaviors are changing. Not only were the numbers up, they were up dramatically.
Over one-fourth of Americans who used the Internet in the past month watched a streaming TV show. Fourteen percent had streamed a full length film or movie. The data collected in April of this year (2009) showed a phenomenal doubling of the numbers collected during the previous September.
The highest percentage of streaming video viewers was found among young adults, ages 18 -24. Within this demographic group, the numbers soared to twice the national average for watching streaming video—51% for TV shows and 30% for viewing full length movies.
Experts attribute the swelling percentages to a corresponding growth of digital video web sites, citing Hulu in particular. Most typically, these sites are “free” to the consumer with costs being compensated through advertising. Brian Pickens, Senior Research Manager at Ipsos, believes that streaming video “is becoming an important distribution channel where any type of full-length video can be instantly accessed for immediate consumption without a fee.”
The appeal of streaming video to consumers is found in its on-demand flexibility for being available exactly when the viewer wishes, and its value of providing free entertainment in a capricious economy.