Online Video: 2009 is Primetime
Stream 001. May 2009. Global Web Index.
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Online Video: 2009 is Primetime
The following report provides a unique perspective into on-demand video
and video sharing that have transformed the internet over recent years.
The following analysis will tell you why online video is as big as television,
just three years after appearing on the Internet mainstream. It will also set
out why the future of the moving picture is consumer driven. This is drawn
from US data, but the insights apply anywhere in the world. Data in June
wil set out te global picture in detail.
All of the research in this report is based on data from the pilot study for the
Global Web Index that was conducted among 1000 web users aged 16-
64 in the United States in January 2009. The sample was representative
to the online universe by age, gender, region, and volume of usage.
The report covers the following: The Global Web Index
• How video transformed the web The Global Web Index is a unique research study that establishes on how and why people
• The scale of online video in 2009 use the web, with a particular focus on the rise and impact of social media. This perspective
• Why the future of video is consumer driven drives global insight on trends, web behaviour, and providing an understanding of the scale and
• Designing brilliant online video opportunity of social media.
• The future
The Global Web Index, now launched in sixteen markets, delivers the first set of data in June
in June 2009. The survey, concept, and analysis were delivered by Trendstream, a research
consultancy focused on Web usage trends, the rise of social media, and mobile technology. The
data was collected via self completion online surveys, with all respondents recruited from global
Lightspeed Research panels.
To find out more, please visit globalwebindex.net or contact globalwebindex@trendstream.net to
arrange a demonstration.
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Video transformed the Web
In a world of such spectacular and continual technological change, it is easy to take things for granted. Online video is a
prime example. The fact that we can access billions of video clips covering every aspect of human existence from the four
corners of the world, is something we pretty much takeas a given. But think about it, this really is a meteoric trend in the
way we consume the moving picture, and one with massive impacts.
Think back just three years ago and you realise how fast video has risen and how much it has transformed the Web
we know today into a multi-media platform. Back then online video was a terrible experience, where clips had to be
downloaded through creaky connections, and viewed in desktop software like Real Player. This was not the TV killer
that early web hype had promised.
But sometime around the end of 2005, a revolution arrived thanks to tumbling broadband prices and even cheaper
storage. The infrastructure was in place to unleash a period of unprecedented innovation and a proliferation of
video sharing sites appeared, spearheaded by the likes of YouTube in the United States,
Dailymotion in Europe and Tuduo in China. They all shared three simple elements
pushed video into the mainstream :
Flash Player technology: Videos hosted by the service could be played
instantly in the browser, without the need to download. This made online video accessible,
immediate, and addictive.
Ability to upload: These video sites made it easy to upload videos from your computer and then share them with friends for free. This made video
an open and democratic consumer driven platform, with no costs of entry.
Embeds: The simple technology allowing anyone to post a video clip on any page on the Web by pasting the embedded code meant that video could be found
on every site, social network page, and blog across the Web. It turned video into a bottom up platform and coupled with the massive rise of consumer publishing
and social networks, turned the user into the distributor.
These simple facts have created the fastest growing media platform in history, from zero to mass market in three years. An impact can clearly be seen in this
research. Online video is now a mainstream platform on a par with traditional broadcasting; something that few of us sit back and reflect on. Today, a platform
that is truly open, consumer driven, and utterly democratic is transforming the way we consume the moving image.
Flickr Image: Balleyne
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Today Video is Primetime Fortunately this is an inclusive revolution and all age groups are getting involved, both
The rise of online video is clear. In January 2009, 72 percent of U.S. Web users in terms of passively viewing and actively sharing and uploading. A huge 82 percent
watched video clips, making it the leading social platform; bigger than blogging or of people online aged sixteen to seventeen watched in January 2009. This compares
social networking. Crucially, online video is not a passive space: 39 percent of users to a still very significant 65 percent people online aged fifty-five to sixty-four. This is a
had shared a video and 32 percent had uploaded one; a testament to the ease of use smaller difference than might be expected. Comparing the same age ranges when it
of mainstream video sharing. This is a revolution, from the one-way broadcast medium comes to sharing video, the ranges were from 52 percent to 29 percent and uploading
we have grown up with, to a two-way consumer-driven one. from 46 percent to 21 percent.
72% Watched a video clip
Viewing
65%
82%
16-17
18-24
46% Read a blog
25-34
29% 52% 35-44
Sharing 45-54
41%
globalwebindex.net Managed a social 55-64
network profile 20% 46%
Uploading
39%
Shared a video clip clips
10%
50%
90%
32%
Uploaded a video clip clips
Figure 1: Key social platforms. Social Me- Figure 2: Online video involvement by
18% dia involvement, last month. Percentage age.
of all active web users.
Write a blog Source: Global Web Index. USA. January 2009.
Source: Global Web Index. USA. January 2009.
Flickr Image: Sreejithk2000
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62%, viewed last week
As big as network TV Figure 3: Involvement with viewing
video online. All active viewers
This scale of usage means that online video is now as big as network TV in the United Source: Global Web Index. USA
States, a fact sure to be replicated world-wide. Viewing is also extremely regular as
shown in Figure 3, with 62 percent of active Web users watching at least one online
video each week. This high level of engagement means that a massive 97 million
43%
Americans viewed online video that week, as many as the weekly viewers of any of
the major networks. The scale of this platform, which is little more than three years old 15% 13% 10% 10%
is staggering and suggests a not so distant future where online video will be bigger 9%
than TV. It will start to have more of an impact on our culture, collective outlook and
the trends that impact society as a whole. Never viewed Viewed but not in Viewed not in Viewed last week. Viewed last Viewed last
the last month the last week 1 - 10 videos week. 10 - 20 week. 20+ vid-
videos eos
Figure 4: Weekly reach in millions. USA
Based on Comscore active universe estimates of 167 million users in December 2008, WARC television figures fot the USA and Global Web Index. USA. January 2009.
Fox Online Video NBC CBS ABC
86 Million 97 Million 112 Million 114 Million 114 Million
Flickr Image: RJ31322
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Fragmented: social web driving viewing Social networks are also increasing destinations for video, less a surprise with
MySpace, which has focused heavily on shifting from social network to content site.
The power to embed a video on any site can be seen in Figure 5, the weekly access However, Facebook, scoring a nine percent weekly reach shows how consumer-
points for online video, which shows that video is a massively fragmented ecosystem. focused and personal content will begin to dominate viewing, while also demonstrating
This couldn’t be more different from the traditional and closed nature of the broadcast how social networks are slowly becoming our complete web experience. The fact
platform. that the video site for the main TV networks, Hulu, recorded a severn percent reach
is also evidence that the traditional order will find it hard to compete in scale
Unsurprisingly, YouTube dominates viewing in the United States with with consumer-driven platforms. This is underlined by the eight percent
almost 68 percent of video watchers viewing at least one video on who watched video on a friend’s blog. The mass market for video
its platform in the last week. However, the other big players are will be around open platforms that allow uploading and sharing of
eclipsed by the consumer-driven social Web. The second biggest consumer content.
access point for watching video is via e-mail, with 35 percent of
video watchers watching videos from that access point. This YouTube
demonstrates how the future of the moving picture will be
driven by viral and consumer distribution. Figure 5: Weekly access points to
watching video clips. Percentage of
The next biggest viewing platforms are music sites, news monthly video universe.
sites, and film sites. This is proof of how the embed has spread
Source: Global Web Index. USA. January 2009.
online video into all corners of the Web. It is also testimony,
to consumer and bottom-up distribution. The exception of this
pattern is Yahoo!, which has a 31 percent weekly reach in the
video market. This demonstrates how Yahoo has evolved and Email
remained relevant despite changing Web trends away from the
traditional portal model. Music
Yahoo! Site
Film Site News Site
68%
Google MSN Friends
Another Facebook MySpace
35%
Via Mes-
23%
Hulu Blog
21%
Video Video
19%
20%
iTunes senger Blog
10%
9%
7%
8%
8%
8%
6%
5%
5%
Flickr Image: 84263554@Noo
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Consumer content rules People-driven network
Figure 6 shows the volume share of video types viewed in January 2009. This Of course, the big factor in this video revolution is the fact it the consumer dictates
underlines how different the online space is to traditional broadcasting. A massive the distribution, not the network. This is proven by the fact that more than 38 percent
21 percent of all viewing is music, a fact you may not expect, which is evidence of of online viewers shared a video in the last week. This is an incredibly active viral
both the desire to have music on-demand and also the failure of the music industry to environment. However, sharing is not a level playing field. Figure 7 shows the size of
provide a music platform that consumers want. This is followed by personal content consumers’ sharing networks, with the majority distributing to less than three people.
in its various forms, which makes up 20 percent of viewing, proof that the future of This leaves a minority of 11% of consumers, who share with large networks of more
the moving picture will be increasingly dominated by consumer-focused content. The than six people who drive the social video space.
leading professional content viewed makes sense in short format, such as cartoons
or sports highlights. Programming-based or topic-focused content follows this, but will Despite claims that e-mail is being surpassed by social platforms as the main messaging
surely grow in viewing as online video evolves into our primary video platform technology, it is still the leading way people share videos. More than 50 percent of
sharers have done so via e-mail in the last month, as shown in Figure 8. This is
followed by social networks, which have surpassed messenger. Interestingly just 14
Music Videos: 21% Funny percent of sharers had done so inside a video site, which shows how transportable
Figure 6: Volume share of video and viral video is today and also demonstrates where the true community exists.
home views last week, by genre / topic
videos: Source: Global Web Index. USA. January
9% 2009. 10+ people: 5% Email: 49%
Car- Film Other Personal
toons: Trailers: 6% personal / family/
videos: 5% friend: 6-9 people: 6% Social Network: 23%
6%
6%
Product Adverts: 5% Cars /
Reviews
Autos: Figure 7: How many do video 4-5 people: 17%
3% Mash- sharers ‘typical’ share a video with Messenger: 21%
Sports 5% ups:
High- and how, in the last month.
Drama: Travel: 4% Biographies 3%
lights: 4% 3% 2-3 people: 35% To contacts in a video
6% Figure 8: The channel for sharing, sharing site 14%
Instruction- Documenta-
al:4% ries:4%
in the last month
Politics: 4% Technology
: 4%
Source: Global Web Index. USA. January 1 person: 37% On my blog 12%
2009.
Flickr Image: Kinlush
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Consumer content drives the future Figure 9: What type of videos have you up-
loaded? All video up-loaders.
Personal
home videos
Not only do consumers dictate viewing patterns, they contribute the majority of the Music
Source: Global Web Index. USA. January 2009.
content. In January 49 million active users that month (32%), uploaded a massive Videos
Funny
volume of content that hugely outweighs professional content. As Figure 9 shows,
home
personal content leads the way with 27 percent of uploaders sharing personal home
videos
videos with the rest of the world. This is followed by music and then film trailers. This Film
is not to say that other categories of content are not being driven by consumers. Sports Trailers
nine percent uploaded a technology related video and severn percent a travel-related High- Politics
video. This scale of usage means a mass of content in excess of the total output of Product lights
professional media. reviews
Another reason consumer-focused content dominates is the number of portable
15%
22%
27%
13%
18%
11%
devices that puts video creation in everybody’s pocket. Figure 10 shows that the
9%
digital camera with almost 48 percent of creators using one to create a video to share
online. This is followed by the mobile phone, and then the video camera. This shows
us two things: first that an increased amount of future content will not be defined by
high quality imagery but low quality impulse content; and second, convergence in Transfer from
devices is a very real phenomenon and one that dictates our portable device usage. digital camera
Who needs a video camera when you have a mobile phone? It also shows how crucial
the synergy is between the device and the Web. So expect to see more devices like
the Flip Video; low cost video capture that synchronises perfectly with Web platforms.
Transfer Edit videos
Transfer
from on home PC
from video
mobile
Rip video camera
Add sound
from TV
to still
Figure 10: How have you created videos? All broadcasts
images
20%
22%
26%
48%
video up-loaders. (Ever done)
11%
9%
Source: Global Web Index. USA. January 2009.
Flickr Image: A2community
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Engaging an opinion forming audience The importance of social
Online video engages a premium audience. For example, viewers of video on a friends Network consumer connections are what makes online videos distinct from TV and
blog, a key social environment are much more likely to be between the ages of 25 to what drives engagement. Figure 12 shows the level of attention by type of video clip.
34, with high incomes and education levels. This is also the case in the social web for The highest attention focuses on clips shared from a friend, a clear demonstration of
viewers of videos on blogs as shown in Figure 11. They are the influencer audience, the importance of the viral network and consumer distributor.
who shape not only online opinion, but also opinion in the wider world. Online video
provides the power and platform to engage, communicate, and build community with
this audience.
Gender Age final education Personal Income 5.5 Video clip shared by a friend
Female
Male
16-17
18-24
25-34
$50K>$99K
35-44
45-54
<$29K
$30K>$49K
55-64
Post-Grad
<$100K
High-school
College
5.4 News hi-lights
196
189
195 4.8 Film trailer online
177
4.6 Video clip found on a video sharing site
147
131 4.0 Music videos online
111
104 3.9 User generate content online
96
77 83 3.0 Advertisement online
56 43 58
38
Figure 11: Video viewers on friends blog. Demographics indexed. Figure 12: How much attention is paid to different types of video content.
100 = US average. Where 10 = Very high attention and 1 = low attention
Source: Global Web Index. USA. January 2009.
Source: Global Web Index. USA. January 2009.
How to read: Anything above 100 equals increased propensity to be that segment.
E.G Post grad = 147, which means that post grads are 47% more likely to watch video
ton a friends blog than the average US web user
Flickr Image: Gaeteenlee
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Designing brilliant video Don’t just put a TV ad online: Companies and brands need to create interesting
content to engage viewers and get them to share the content with their network. Adverts
If you are marketer of a global brand, an international broadcaster or a one man can work if they are truly brilliant content, but most if we’re honest are not designed to
operation, the rules are the same if you want to distribute video over the web and be. If your TV ad is truly brilliant, then it will find its way online thanks to a consumer
engage people with your company and brand: distributor.
Engage the creators: Content creators, be they bloggers, photo sharers or video up-
Take a long term perspective: Whilst it is certainly true that some videos fuelled by a oaders, are the influencers of the future. Reach out to them, build a relationship with
the viral effect will drive millions of views in a very short time, the reality for most videos your video content.
is that building an audience takes time. This is not necessarily a bad thing; content has
the potential to active for many years and doesn’t disappear like it would on TV. This Remember all companies have interesting stories: It doesn’t matter whether you
means thinking about long-term accumulated viewership and creating content that make bleach or games consoles, there is always a theme, a story or idea to share and
has long term relevancy. people want to watch them.
Small is beautiful: Viewing figures are not comparable with television. Viewing figures Build multiplatform content: If you create content, you should also be blogging, build
on television are a measure of exposures. The online video watcher is a very high ing community through platforms like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, and talking
attention viewer who chooses to watch. Small audiences of the right people are better about the video content you produce. The future will be multi-oriented content, not one-
than large audiences of uninterested ones. dimensional.
Let go of control: If users copy, remix or reuse your content, let them. Social media
is open and strict control will not work.
Produce relevant content: Stick to topics and content relevant to your company and
brands. It is not about driving views for the sake of it with funny content. Think of your
brand values, a long term approach and engaging the right audience over time.
Get consumers to create on your behalf: Use video uploads as a mechanism for
consumers to create content on your behalf. Ask for competition entries, product
reviews, ideas or feedback. Get them engaged and build advocates.
Think niche: Online video connects users interests and needs with content. This
means niche content will find an audience and content that would not be financially
viable in the closed networks of TV will work online.
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The Future
If you were designing a television platform today from scratch you would base it on To find out more
on-demand viewing and Internet infrastructure. It is a more efficient way of connecting about how the Global
people and their passions with content they want.
Web Index can work for
However, television as we know it is a legacy system. The hundreds of billions of your business:
dollars invested in networks, studios, and infrastructure guarantee that it won’t be
dislodged anytime soon. But as the years pass, it is guarenteed that more TV viewing
will directed through the web and online infrastructure. Contact:
globalwebindex@trendstream.net
Today this legacy creates a broadcast mindset in all of us. This drives a number of
assumptions that live deeply in us about how we should work with the moving picture, Visit:
such as the pursuit of big audiences versus a niche engaged one, judging audience
scale on potential exposure rather than their actions, and thinking of live and broadcast globalwebindex.net
delivery versus long term on-demand delivery.
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Online video has the potential to create a totally new ecosystem of content that has About the author:
more impact than mainstream television, but in a totally different way. On-demand
video will impact our wider relationship with media, moving us all away from the Tom Smith is the founder of Trendstream and the project leader of the Global Web
scripted broadcast approach to one where we pick and choose what we want. Index. Tom has a long history of running global social media research, having created
the global Wave research project at Universal McCann back in 2006 (a lifetime in the
In 10 to 20 years it is feasible to suggest that a TV delivery system that comes into our world of social media!), that measured social media usage, impact and behaviour in
living room is built on Internet infrastructure. This will be an open system that is driven over 30 markets.
by consumer content and our viewing habits by our our social network.
Tom frequently writes and talks on the global impact of social media, what it means
Research results from the Global Web Index will show both the growth and the global and the opportunities.
spread of video usage as we move into the future.
To get in touch:
tom@trendstream.net
@tomtrendstream
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