Viewers who watch more than 1 hour of online video a week make up nearly 40% of all viewers and watch nearly three-quarters of the programming, according to an August 2008 study by Forrester Consulting for Veoh Networks.
The researchers said these active viewers are likely to be highly engaged with online video, paying attention to longer programming and the ads that run with it. They also tend to be younger than the general population.
“As online video viewing continues to grow as a primary source of entertainment, it will create many new opportunities for content providers and advertisers alike to reach engaged, influential audiences,” said Steve Mitgang, CEO of Veoh Networks, in a statement.
Veoh noted that while 13-to-24-year-olds make up only 15% of the online population, they represent more than 35% of active online video viewers.
comScore Networks data from June 2008 on heavy online video viewers revealed demographic characteristics similar to those in the Veoh study for household income—mostly under $75,000 per year.
However, in the comScore study, there were slightly more viewers in the 35 to 54 age group than there were under-35s.
At least two differences in the studies could account for the discrepancy. For one, the Veoh research was specific to the most active viewers, while the comScore study segmented all viewers.
Secondly, comScore only surveyed streaming video viewers, which would not account for downloaded video viewers. Besides legitimate video purchased from sources like iTunes, the Veoh study would also include those who downloaded video illegally from peer-to-peer networks, whose users tend to be younger than the general Internet-using population.
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