• by Daisy Whitney , Op-Ed Contributor, June 15, 2012

While the total audience for online video has remained steady over the last year, engagement in online video has grown significantly in that time. However, the number of ads relative to the amount of content being viewed still lags. Those are the findings of a new comScore white paper analyzing the cross-media impact of the TV upfronts. 

About 180 million people in the U.S. watch online video each month, and of those 30% more now watch Web video each day compared to a year ago, the research firm said. That’s a significant boost in the use of the medium, and affirms that online video is becoming increasingly mainstream as a way to watch video. Also, the average video user spends more than 21 hours each month watching online video -- up 47% from a year ago. Time spent watching has risen 23% to 6.4 minutes, underscoring the growth in viewership for long-form content. 

The trouble is that video programming is not being monetized as effectively as TV. In March, about 98.5% of time spent watching Web video was on content, which compares to 75% of the time spent on TV with the actual shows, comScore said. However, long-form Web video content does the best job of lassoing ads with about 8% of time spent watching long-form video comprised of ads.

“There remains immense opportunity for online video advertising to increase its ad load,” comScore said. “Ad spend with online video is not proportionate to the engagement levels or the ad load expectations that viewers might have when compared to TV.”