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Online Video: 2009 is PrimetimeStream 001. May 2009. Global Web Index.

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Online Video: 2009 is PrimetimeThe following report provides a unique perspective into on-demand video and video sharing that have transformed the internet over recent years. The following analysis will tell you why online video is as big as television, just three years after appearing on the Internet mainstream. It will also set out why the future of the moving picture is consumer driven. This is drawn from US data, but the insights apply anywhere in the world. Data in June wil set out te global picture in detail.

All of the research in this report is based on data from the pilot study for the Global Web Index that was conducted among 1000 web users aged 16-64 in the United States in January 2009. The sample was representative to the online universe by age, gender, region, and volume of usage.

The report covers the following:

• Howvideotransformedtheweb• Thescaleofonlinevideoin2009• Whythefutureofvideoisconsumerdriven• Designingbrilliantonlinevideo• Thefuture

The Global Web IndexThe Global Web Index is a unique research study that establishes on how and why people use the web, with a particular focus on the rise and impact of social media. This perspective drives global insight on trends, web behaviour, and providing an understanding of the scale and opportunity of social media.

The Global Web Index, now launched in sixteen markets, delivers the first set of data in June in June 2009. The survey, concept, and analysis were delivered by Trendstream, a research consultancy focused on Web usage trends, the rise of social media, and mobile technology. The data was collected via self completion online surveys, with all respondents recruited from global Lightspeed Research panels.

To find out more, please visit globalwebindex.net or contact globalwebindex@trendstream.net to arrange a demonstration.

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Video transformed the WebIn a world of such spectacular and continual technological change, it is easy to take things for granted. Online video is a prime example. The fact that we can access billions of video clips covering every aspect of human existence from the four corners of the world, is something we pretty much takeas a given. But think about it, this really is a meteoric trend in the way we consume the moving picture, and one with massive impacts.

Think back just three years ago and you realise how fast video has risen and how much it has transformed the Web we know today into a multi-media platform. Back then online video was a terrible experience, where clips had to be downloaded through creaky connections, and viewed in desktop software like Real Player. This was not the TV killer that early web hype had promised.

But sometime around the end of 2005, a revolution arrived thanks to tumbling broadband prices and even cheaper storage. The infrastructure was in place to unleash a period of unprecedented innovation and a proliferation of

video sharing sites appeared, spearheaded by the likes of YouTube in the United States, Dailymotion in Europe and Tuduo in China. They all shared three simple elements

pushed video into the mainstream :

Flash Player technology: Videos hosted by the service could be played instantly in the browser, without the need to download. This made online video accessible, immediate, and addictive.

Ability to upload: These video sites made it easy to upload videos from your computer and then share them with friends for free. This made video an open and democratic consumer driven platform, with no costs of entry.

Embeds: The simple technology allowing anyone to post a video clip on any page on the Web by pasting the embedded code meant that video could be found on every site, social network page, and blog across the Web. It turned video into a bottom up platform and coupled with the massive rise of consumer publishing

and social networks, turned the user into the distributor.

These simple facts have created the fastest growing media platform in history, from zero to mass market in three years. An impact can clearly be seen in this research. Online video is now a mainstream platform on a par with traditional broadcasting; something that few of us sit back and reflect on. Today, a platform

that is truly open, consumer driven, and utterly democratic is transforming the way we consume the moving image.

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Today Video is PrimetimeThe rise of online video is clear. In January 2009, 72 percent of U.S. Web users watched video clips, making it the leading social platform; bigger than blogging or social networking. Crucially, online video is not a passive space: 39 percent of users had shared a video and 32 percent had uploaded one; a testament to the ease of use of mainstream video sharing. This is a revolution, from the one-way broadcast medium we have grown up with, to a two-way consumer-driven one.

Fortunately this is an inclusive revolution and all age groups are getting involved, both in terms of passively viewing and actively sharing and uploading. A huge 82 percent of people online aged sixteen to seventeen watched in January 2009. This compares to a still very significant 65 percent people online aged fifty-five to sixty-four. This is a smaller difference than might be expected. Comparing the same age ranges when it comes to sharing video, the ranges were from 52 percent to 29 percent and uploading from 46 percent to 21 percent.

72%46%

41%

39%

32%

18%

Watched a video clip

Read a blog

Managed a social network profile

Shared a video clip clips

Uploaded a video clip clips

Write a blog

Figure 1: Key social platforms. Social Me-dia involvement, last month. Percentage of all active web users.

Source: Global Web Index. USA. January 2009.

Viewing

Sharing

Uploading

10%

50%

90%

16-1718-2425-3435-4445-5455-64

65% 82%

29% 52%

20% 46%

Figure 2: Online video involvement by age.

Source: Global Web Index. USA. January 2009.

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As big as network TV

This scale of usage means that online video is now as big as network TV in the United States, a fact sure to be replicated world-wide. Viewing is also extremely regular as shown in Figure 3, with 62 percent of active Web users watching at least one online video each week. This high level of engagement means that a massive 97 million Americans viewed online video that week, as many as the weekly viewers of any of the major networks. The scale of this platform, which is little more than three years old is staggering and suggests a not so distant future where online video will be bigger than TV. It will start to have more of an impact on our culture, collective outlook and the trends that impact society as a whole.

Fox 86 Million

Online Video 97 Million

NBC 112 Million

CBS 114 Million

ABC 114 Million

Figure 4: Weekly reach in millions. USA

Based on Comscore active universe estimates of 167 million users in December 2008, WARC television figures fot the USA and Global Web Index. USA. January 2009.

15% 13% 9%10%10%

43%

Figure 3: Involvement with viewing video online. All active viewers

Source: Global Web Index. USA

62%, viewed last week

Never viewed Viewed but not in the last month

Viewed not in the last week

Viewed last week. 1 - 10 videos

Viewed last week. 10 - 20

videos

Viewed last week. 20+ vid-

eos

Flickr Image: 84263554@Noo

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Fragmented: social web driving viewingThe power to embed a video on any site can be seen in Figure 5, the weekly access points for online video, which shows that video is a massively fragmented ecosystem. This couldn’t be more different from the traditional and closed nature of the broadcast platform.

Unsurprisingly, YouTube dominates viewing in the United States with almost 68 percent of video watchers viewing at least one video on its platform in the last week. However, the other big players are eclipsed by the consumer-driven social Web. The second biggest access point for watching video is via e-mail, with 35 percent of video watchers watching videos from that access point. This demonstrates how the future of the moving picture will be driven by viral and consumer distribution.

The next biggest viewing platforms are music sites, news sites, and film sites. This is proof of how the embed has spread online video into all corners of the Web. It is also testimony, to consumer and bottom-up distribution. The exception of this pattern is Yahoo!, which has a 31 percent weekly reach in the video market. This demonstrates how Yahoo has evolved and remained relevant despite changing Web trends away from the traditional portal model.

YouTube

Email

Music SiteYahoo!

News SiteFilm Site

MySpaceFacebookFriends

BlogHuluMSN Video

Google Video

Another Blog

Via Mes-senger

68%

35%

23%

21%

20%

10%

19%

9%8%8%8%7%6%5%5%

iTunes

Figure 5: Weekly access points to watching video clips. Percentage of monthly video universe.

Source: Global Web Index. USA. January 2009.

Social networks are also increasing destinations for video, less a surprise with MySpace, which has focused heavily on shifting from social network to content site. However, Facebook, scoring a nine percent weekly reach shows how consumer-focused and personal content will begin to dominate viewing, while also demonstrating how social networks are slowly becoming our complete web experience. The fact that the video site for the main TV networks, Hulu, recorded a severn percent reach

is also evidence that the traditional order will find it hard to compete in scale with consumer-driven platforms. This is underlined by the eight percent

who watched video on a friend’s blog. The mass market for video will be around open platforms that allow uploading and sharing of

consumer content.

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People-driven networkOf course, the big factor in this video revolution is the fact it the consumer dictates the distribution, not the network. This is proven by the fact that more than 38 percent of online viewers shared a video in the last week. This is an incredibly active viral environment. However, sharing is not a level playing field. Figure 7 shows the size of consumers’ sharing networks, with the majority distributing to less than three people. This leaves a minority of 11% of consumers, who share with large networks of more than six people who drive the social video space.

Despite claims that e-mail is being surpassed by social platforms as the main messaging technology, it is still the leading way people share videos. More than 50 percent of sharers have done so via e-mail in the last month, as shown in Figure 8. This is followed by social networks, which have surpassed messenger. Interestingly just 14 percent of sharers had done so inside a video site, which shows how transportable and viral video is today and also demonstrates where the true community exists.

Music Videos: 21% Funny home videos: 9%

Film Trailers: 6%

Car-toons: 6%

Sports High-lights:6%

ProductReviews5%

Adverts: 5%

Drama:4%

Politics: 4%

Travel: 4%

Technology: 4%

Instruction-al:4%

Documenta-ries:4%

Cars / Autos: 3%

Biographies 3%

Mash-ups: 3%

Other personal videos: 5%

Personal / family/ friend: 6%

Figure 6: Volume share of video views last week, by genre / topic

Source: Global Web Index. USA. January 2009.

6-9 people: 6%

4-5 people: 17%

2-3 people: 35%

10+ people: 5%

1 person: 37%

Email: 49%

Social Network: 23%

Messenger: 21%

To contacts in a video sharing site 14%

On my blog 12%

Figure 7: How many do video sharers ‘typical’ share a video with and how, in the last month.

Figure 8: The channel for sharing, in the last month

Source: Global Web Index. USA. January 2009.

Consumer content rulesFigure 6 shows the volume share of video types viewed in January 2009. This underlines how different the online space is to traditional broadcasting. A massive 21 percent of all viewing is music, a fact you may not expect, which is evidence of both the desire to have music on-demand and also the failure of the music industry to provide a music platform that consumers want. This is followed by personal content in its various forms, which makes up 20 percent of viewing, proof that the future of the moving picture will be increasingly dominated by consumer-focused content. The leading professional content viewed makes sense in short format, such as cartoons or sports highlights. Programming-based or topic-focused content follows this, but will surely grow in viewing as online video evolves into our primary video platform

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Consumer content drives the futureNot only do consumers dictate viewing patterns, they contribute the majority of the content. In January 49 million active users that month (32%), uploaded a massive volume of content that hugely outweighs professional content. As Figure 9 shows, personal content leads the way with 27 percent of uploaders sharing personal home videos with the rest of the world. This is followed by music and then film trailers. This is not to say that other categories of content are not being driven by consumers. nine percent uploaded a technology related video and severn percent a travel-related video. This scale of usage means a mass of content in excess of the total output of professional media.

Another reason consumer-focused content dominates is the number of portable devices that puts video creation in everybody’s pocket. Figure 10 shows that the digital camera with almost 48 percent of creators using one to create a video to share online. This is followed by the mobile phone, and then the video camera. This shows us two things: first that an increased amount of future content will not be defined by high quality imagery but low quality impulse content; and second, convergence in devices is a very real phenomenon and one that dictates our portable device usage. Who needs a video camera when you have a mobile phone? It also shows how crucial the synergy is between the device and the Web. So expect to see more devices like the Flip Video; low cost video capture that synchronises perfectly with Web platforms.

Music Videos Funny

home videos

Film Trailers

Politics

27%

22%

18%

15%

13%

Personal home videos

Sports High-lights

11%

9%

Product reviews

Figure 9: What type of videos have you up-loaded? All video up-loaders.

Source: Global Web Index. USA. January 2009.

48%

26%

22%

20%

11%

9%

Transfer from digital camera

Edit videos on home PC

Transfer from

mobile

Transfer from video

cameraRip video from TV

broadcasts

Add sound to still

imagesFigure 10: How have you created videos? All video up-loaders. (Ever done)

Source: Global Web Index. USA. January 2009.

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Engaging an opinion forming audienceOnline video engages a premium audience. For example, viewers of video on a friends blog, a key social environment are much more likely to be between the ages of 25 to 34, with high incomes and education levels. This is also the case in the social web for viewers of videos on blogs as shown in Figure 11. They are the influencer audience, who shape not only online opinion, but also opinion in the wider world. Online video provides the power and platform to engage, communicate, and build community with this audience.

The importance of socialNetwork consumer connections are what makes online videos distinct from TV and what drives engagement. Figure 12 shows the level of attention by type of video clip. The highest attention focuses on clips shared from a friend, a clear demonstration of the importance of the viral network and consumer distributor.

5.5

5.4

4.8

4.6

4.0

3.9

3.0

Video clip shared by a friend

News hi-lights

Film trailer online

Video clip found on a video sharing site

Music videos online

User generate content online

Advertisement online

Figure 12: How much attention is paid to different types of video content. Where 10 = Very high attention and 1 = low attention

Source: Global Web Index. USA. January 2009.

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196 189177

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Figure 11: Video viewers on friends blog. Demographics indexed. 100 = US average. Source: Global Web Index. USA. January 2009. How to read: Anything above 100 equals increased propensity to be that segment. E.G Post grad = 147, which means that post grads are 47% more likely to watch video ton a friends blog than the average US web user

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Designing brilliant videoIf you are marketer of a global brand, an international broadcaster or a one man operation, the rules are the same if you want to distribute video over the web and engage people with your company and brand:

Take a long term perspective: Whilst it is certainly true that some videos fuelled by a the viral effect will drive millions of views in a very short time, the reality for most videos is that building an audience takes time. This is not necessarily a bad thing; content has the potential to active for many years and doesn’t disappear like it would on TV. This means thinking about long-term accumulated viewership and creating content that has long term relevancy.

Small is beautiful: Viewing figures are not comparable with television. Viewing figures on television are a measure of exposures. The online video watcher is a very high attention viewer who chooses to watch. Small audiences of the right people are better than large audiences of uninterested ones.

Let go of control: If users copy, remix or reuse your content, let them. Social media is open and strict control will not work.

Produce relevant content: Stick to topics and content relevant to your company and brands. It is not about driving views for the sake of it with funny content. Think of your brand values, a long term approach and engaging the right audience over time. Get consumers to create on your behalf: Use video uploads as a mechanism for consumers to create content on your behalf. Ask for competition entries, product reviews, ideas or feedback. Get them engaged and build advocates.

Think niche: Online video connects users interests and needs with content. This means niche content will find an audience and content that would not be financially viable in the closed networks of TV will work online.

Don’t just put a TV ad online: Companies and brands need to create interesting content to engage viewers and get them to share the content with their network. Adverts can work if they are truly brilliant content, but most if we’re honest are not designed to be. If your TV ad is truly brilliant, then it will find its way online thanks to a consumer distributor.

Engage the creators: Content creators, be they bloggers, photo sharers or video up-oaders, are the influencers of the future. Reach out to them, build a relationship with your video content.

Remember all companies have interesting stories: It doesn’t matter whether you make bleach or games consoles, there is always a theme, a story or idea to share and people want to watch them.

Build multiplatform content: If you create content, you should also be blogging, build ing community through platforms like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, and talking about the video content you produce. The future will be multi-oriented content, not one-dimensional.

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The FutureIf you were designing a television platform today from scratch you would base it on on-demand viewing and Internet infrastructure. It is a more efficient way of connecting people and their passions with content they want.

However, television as we know it is a legacy system. The hundreds of billions of dollars invested in networks, studios, and infrastructure guarantee that it won’t be dislodged anytime soon. But as the years pass, it is guarenteed that more TV viewing will directed through the web and online infrastructure.

Today this legacy creates a broadcast mindset in all of us. This drives a number of assumptions that live deeply in us about how we should work with the moving picture, such as the pursuit of big audiences versus a niche engaged one, judging audience scale on potential exposure rather than their actions, and thinking of live and broadcast delivery versus long term on-demand delivery.

Online video has the potential to create a totally new ecosystem of content that has more impact than mainstream television, but in a totally different way. On-demand video will impact our wider relationship with media, moving us all away from the scripted broadcast approach to one where we pick and choose what we want.

In 10 to 20 years it is feasible to suggest that a TV delivery system that comes into our living room is built on Internet infrastructure. This will be an open system that is driven by consumer content and our viewing habits by our our social network.

Research results from the Global Web Index will show both the growth and the global spread of video usage as we move into the future.

To find out more about how the Global

Web Index can work for your business:

Contact:globalwebindex@trendstream.net

Visit: globalwebindex.net

About the author:

Tom Smith is the founder of Trendstream and the project leader of the Global Web Index. Tom has a long history of running global social media research, having created the global Wave research project at Universal McCann back in 2006 (a lifetime in the world of social media!), that measured social media usage, impact and behaviour in over 30 markets.

Tom frequently writes and talks on the global impact of social media, what it means and the opportunities.

To get in touch:

tom@trendstream.net @tomtrendstream