Online Video popular across all segments.

With the Hollywood writers’ strike entering its third month, consumers may soon tire of reruns and reality programming and look toward the Internet for entertainment content. The Internet is well prepared for this attention with increasing amounts of online video content available to satiate consumers’ appetite for sight, sound and motion.

To better understand consumers’ appetite for online video content, Burst Media, a leading provider of advertising representation, services and technology to independent web publishers, conducted an online survey in December 2007 of 2,600 web users 18 years or older. The survey found that seven out of ten respondents (72.1%) have viewed online video content. The Burst survey also found that online video is not only the domain of the young but that a majority of all age segments have watched online videos – including over half (58.6%) of respondents 65 years and older.

The Burst survey also found that nearly three out of five (58.8%) respondents view online video content at least once a week. Men are significantly more likely than women to view online video content over the course of a week – 67.6% versus 49.4%, respectively. The eyeballs truly glued to online video are 18-24 years old men, of whom one-third (33.7%) watch some type of online video content daily.

The Burst survey also revealed several interesting findings about consumers’ online video viewing habits:

Professional Video Beats User Generated Video in Popularity:

News clips are the most popular online video content (44.4% of consumers). Other types of video content watched include: music video (37.5%), comedy video (35.5%), movie trailers/advertising (33.7%), TV show video/clips (33.1%), entertainment news (29.9%), sports/sports news (21.8%), instructional video (19.2%), political videos (15.3%) and cooking videos (9.0%). Surprisingly, user generated content ranks very low (15.4%) with online audiences.

For The Young Crowd, Entertainment Rules:

The Burst survey found significant differences between age segments and the types of online video content consumed. Music videos literally rock with respondents 18-24 years, as over half (53.1%) say they seek it out online. Music is followed closely by comedy video (46.9%), TV show video/clips (44.4%), and movie trailers/advertising (43.0%). Entertainment is also the most popular video content viewed by respondents 25-34 years. Beyond the age of 35 years, respondents clearly make news their leading choice of video content.

Good News: Consumers Remember Seeing In-Stream Ads in Online Video:

The Burst survey revealed that more than half (53.6%) of online video viewers recall seeing in-stream (pre, mid, post-roll) advertisements in content they’ve watched. However, advertising placement in online video is not met with overwhelming consumer approval. In fact, the Burst survey revealed that three quarters (78.4%) of respondents say in-stream advertisements in online video are intrusive; and one-half (50.4%) say advertisements in video content disrupts their web surfing experience. Women are more likely than men to say advertisements in video content disrupt their web surfing experience, 53.1% versus 48.1%.

Bad News: Half Stop Watching Video Content if an Ad Appears, Or Worse:

The Burst survey found that one-half (50.7%) of respondents stop watching an online video once they encounter an in-stream advertisement. Ominously, 15.3% of respondents report they immediately leave the website once they encounter an in-stream advertisement in an online video. In regards to advertising effectiveness, in-stream advertising in online video does not always make a lasting impression. In fact, two-thirds (69.1%) of survey respondents say they pay about the same or less attention to in-stream video advertisements than they do to standard creative units on the same page.

# However, Some Segments Admit Recall of Ads Placed in Video Content: For marketers looking to reach the college/young-adult segment, advertising in online video content might be quite effective. The Burst survey found that respondents 18-24 years are the most tolerant of in-stream advertisements with over one-half (57.6%) saying they will watch an advertisement in an online video and 38.5% saying they pay more attention to in-stream video advertisements than they do to standard creative units.

“Online video is clearly in demand by web viewers,” said Jarvis Coffin, CEO of Burst Media. “However, marketers need to tread carefully with online video advertising. It’s pretty clear from our research that most online video consumers are not yet willing to sit through advertising to get the content they seek. For online video advertising to be truly effective, advertisers must approach it with a consumer’s mindset, and recognize that what might be right for one segment could fail with another.”

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