October 23, 2009 - We have a good idea about how much time consumers spend watching online video. We also have a solid sense of how much of that time is spent watching online TV programs and the specific content being viewed. But do you know why consumers are turning to online TV programming?
This Chart of the Week (really it’s a table) offers a head-to-head comparison of two motivations; that those viewing online TV are either:
(1) Re-watching a program they have already seen on a TV, or
(2) Catching up on shows they missed when first broadcast on TV.
So how much time do online TV viewers spend on each of these activities? What percentage of their online TV time is spent re-watching TV programs versus catching up? The table below offers a summary of early 2009 research on this subject. Keep in mind that consumers were asked to enter two percentages: the percent of their online TV viewing time spent re-watching versus the percent of time spent catching up.
As illustrated, about half of online TV viewers spend 90% or more of their viewing time watching shows they missed when they first ran on TV. Conversely, only 2% of online TV viewers spend 90% of more of their viewing time re-watching TV shows they have already seen on TV.
This implies that online TV is primarily viewed as kind of virtual DVR that enables consumers to watch their favorite programs when they have time, on their schedule versus the programmers. Good to know!
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