In the six months between September 2008 and April 2009, long-form streaming video exploded in popularity—the percentage of US Internet users watching online TV shows and movies doubled in that timeframe alone.
Such huge gains might seem at first to be chalked up to the fact that doubling from one percent to two percent is much simpler than doubling from 25 percent to 50 percent. Isn't watching TV shows online still a niche activity? But that's exactly what makes the new numbers so compelling; the percentages involved are significant, showing that online streaming has quickly become the on-demand method of choice for half of all young Americans.
According to recent data from Ipsos MediaCT's ongoing MOTION study, 51 percent of all Internet users between the ages of 18 and 24 have watched at least one streamed TV show in the previous 30 days. This number is up from only 18 percent in September 2008—nearly a tripling of use.
With numbers like those, it's clear that streaming video has officially moved beyond short YouTube clips and now works well even for content where people demand a decent-quality, full-screen picture for 20 minutes or more.
Among all Internet users, the numbers are also significant. 26 percent of all US Internet users watched an online TV show in the survey's last month, up from only 11 percent at the beginning.
Ipsos notes that this can be chalked up to compelling online services; "Hulu, in particular, has experienced heightened exposure and visitation, and has helped pioneer the transition to ad-supported free streaming of TV shows and movies."
The video isn't just being watched in the evening, though, as people crash on the couch in front of their laptops. A new survey from Yahoo shows two daily spikes in online video use: one between 12pm and 3pm and another between 9pm and 1am.
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