Online videos killing TV stars?

28-11-2006

by Maxim Kelly

Chances are, the more online videos you watch, the less time you'll spend in front of the goggle box.

That's just one of the findings of a survey commissioned by the BBC in Britain where 43 percent of screen junkies who watch clips on the internet said they spent less time viewing normal TV as a direct result.

Although this statistic is probably something traditional TV advertisers will note with trepidation, online viewers are still in a minority with only 9 percent of the 2,070 people questioned reporting regular viewing habits on the internet.

Another 13 percent said they watched internet TV occasionally, while a further 10 percent said they expected to begin perusing the range of footage the internet has to offer in the New Year.

Overall, online and mobile TV viewing is growing -- three quarters of users watch more moving images on these platforms than they did a year ago.

However two thirds of survey respondents said they didn't bother watching videos online, nor did they envisage doing so in the next 12 months.

This flies in the face of the oft-reported popularity of video sharing websites such as YouTube, which have brought the internet as a visual medium into the general public consciousness. Even if someone has never accessed YouTube, they may well have watched images taken from the site and broadcast on normal TV -- particularly on news broadcasts.

However the BBC reports that although internet TV is not as advanced in Britain as in the US where hit shows are made available from networks' websites or download services such as iTunes, terrestrial channels are increasing their web content.

In the ICM survey, one in five people who watched online or mobile video at least once a week said they watched a lot less TV as a result. Another 23 percent said they watched a bit less, while just over half said their TV viewing was unchanged. Some 3 percent said online video inspired them to watch more TV.