Thursday, August 2, 2007

The Online Video Call to Action



JULY 30, 2007

'Have you seen this Web video?'

Over half of online adults have used the Internet to watch or download video, and nearly a fifth do so on a typical day, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project's online video study, conducted in February and March 2007.

Among Internet users with broadband access at both home and work, nearly three-quarters watched or downloaded video.

More than half of online video viewers shared video links, and three-quarters said they had received video links from others.

Young adults were the most likely to rate video content, post feedback or upload video.

Mary Madden, a senior research specialist at Pew and the lead author of the report, said, "Young adults are among the most contagious carriers when it comes to understanding how viral videos propagate online. Younger users are the most eager and active contributors to the online video sphere; they are more likely than older users to watch, upload, rate, comment upon and share the video they find."

News content was the most popular genre with every age group except for those ages 18 to 29. For those young adults, comedy is a bigger draw, with 56% watching humorous videos, compared with 43% who say they watch news videos.

Some online videos demand forwarding, rating or other actions. Internet video ads also tend to induce some kind of action among viewers. Typically this involves checking out a company Web site. That was true for 43% of the respondents in a 2007 survey from the Kelsey Group and 31% of respondents in a similar study by the Online Publishers Association.

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