US surfers flock to online video

Daily use of online video rose by 56 per cent over the past year, according to the online Magid Media Futures survey conducted over the last week in March in the US.

Nine per cent of 12 to 64 year-old Americans who used the internet in 2006 reported using online video daily. This number has now risen to 14 per cent.

Weekly use of online video has also risen over the past year. A majority of online Americans aged 12 to 64 are now using online video once a week or more. In 2006 this number was 44 per cent, rising to 52 per cent this year.

Among young adult males aged 18 to 24, 35 per cent report using online video at least once a day, and 80 per cent report watching online video at least once a week. Among females aged 18 to 24, weekly use of online video is 53 per cent.

"Clearly the use of online video demonstrates that the internet has become a mass platform for distributing video content to a wide cross-section of Americans," said Mike Vorhaus, senior vice president and managing director at consulting and research firm Frank N. Magid Associates.

News stories are reported by consumers as the video content they watch most regularly on the internet. Over a third of online Americans 12 to 64 watch online video news stories regularly.

Video content described as jokes/bloopers, weather and movie previews tied for second most regularly viewed video content.

Closely following these were music videos and 'videos shot by consumers and uploaded to websites like YouTube', or 'user-generated content'.

"The breadth of content viewed by consumers regularly online is amazing. This is not just short clips on YouTube," said Vorhaus.

"Consumers are watching news stories, movie previews, clips from TV shows, and, in some cases, even full-length TV shows and movies."