Many of us have heard that video is the in thing these days if you are going to be trying to captivate visitors on your site. A recent study is showing that on average Americans are spending as much as 9 hours in front of some screen per day.
The question then is are they viewing videos, movies and the like or just spending time on the computer.
The results of this study performed by the Council of Research Excellence (CRE), the Ball State University Center for Media Design and Sequent Partners demonstrated that little of the screen time was spent viewing "computer video," which only accounted for an average of 2.4 minutes per day. That's less than 0.5% of the average US consumer's screen time on a given day.
Now when compared to mobile video this only accounted for an average of 6 seconds of viewing a day.
Even taking account of movie and out-of-home video screens, 98% of video is still viewed on a television screen.
We have to compare this information to previous research that had showed something different from the findings in this study, particularly on the subject of on line video.
Nielsen observed that in May 2008, people spent 4.5 minutes per day watching on line video, higher than the CRE estimate--but then Nielsen surveyed Web users only. In addition, Universal McCann estimated that 74.2% of US Internet users watched online video daily or every other day in 2008.
But TubeMogul found that 54% of on line viewers didn't make it past 60 seconds of video in late 2008.
CRE has an explanation for the conflicting figures: Online video watchers overstated the amount they watch by "an extreme." "This suggests that online video may be more important to viewers than the short running times of the clips would indicate," said Paul Verna, eMarketer senior analyst. "The CRE's findings on viewing duration highlight one of the limitations of online video," added Mr. Verna. "Despite the best efforts of TV networks, film studios, sports leagues and other purveyors of long-form, premium content, the Web remains a haven for 'snack' viewing--user-generated videos, music videos, news clips and game highlights."
The subject of when to use online videos and how to use them is one of the many subjects that is covered in the Bay Area Mastermind Meetings. Call today for a chance to check out a local meeting.
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