"Increasingly," says David Hallerman, eMarketer senior analyst and the author of the new Internet Video Audience report, "the short answer is everyone."
According to eMarketer estimates, over one-third of the total US population ages 3 and older will have viewed video on the Internet at least monthly during 2006. And in only three years, more than half of all Americans will be part of the online video audience.
"At this point, nearly 60% of all Internet users watch video regularly, and that share will increase to over 80% by the end of 2010," says Mr. Hallerman.
"The will be 157 million US Internet video users in 2010," he says, "up from 107.7 million this year."
Of course, without high-speed Internet access, online video would be pitiful and painful. With it, however, video is so compelling that 86.6% of broadband users in 2006 can be counted among the Internet video audience in the US.
What does the audience that is watching online videos look like?
"It is made up of more males than females, 65% to 35%, respectively," says Mr. Hallerman. "At least that's true among heavy viewers — those who watch at least one video each week."
But according to an Online Publishers Association (OPA) survey conducted early this year, 59% of the non-viewers who planned to start watching online videos are females, so the audience will likely move toward a gender balance.
In fact, looking at Internet users who visited video and movie Websites in June 2006, Nielsen//NetRatings found a near-equal gender balance — and nearly 25% of those visitors had household incomes of $100,000 or more.
Data from comScore Networks indicate a slight gender imbalance: 52% male vs. 48% female US online video users.
The picture is still developing, but for the sharpest overall view available, read eMarketer's new Internet Video Audience report today.