• by P.J. Bednarski , Staff Writer @pjbtweet, August 29, 2013

We multi-task with online video. Live TV’s enduring value seems to be sports and other “here and now” urgency. 

User generated content  is  so user friendly more than eight out of ten of us use it for education or how-to help, from YouTube or something like it, on a monthly basis at least.  

And online video services are greatly valued for their ability to let consumers pick and choose what they want. A la carte rules!    

Finally, it seems, it’s true: They walk among us. They walk slower and sometimes they forget where it is they’re headed, but by golly, old people, their own pathetic demographic, apparently do many of the same things younger people do online.

All of those points are part of a new report on what’s happening with online video in major countries around the world including the United States,   from  Ericsson’s ConsumerLab (PDF download), which was nicely summed up by Gigaom.com.

Among the more interesting points in the Ericsson worldwide study is that 41% of respondents 65-69 stream videos, including YouTube more than once a week.  Why that seems so stunning is beyond me, but it is one of the bullet points Ericsson throws out there.  
In one portion of the study, Ericsson notes a pretty significant 24% rise in the number of older people who just have lost interest in following a TV schedule, and that's just since 2011. Half in that age group now say the Internet and computers are big parts of their TV and video habits. 

Indeed, among  all viewers it appears that the idea of DVRing content to be watched later is now losing out to just going right to a streaming source like a Netflix or Hulu.   

The study looked at viewers in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Spain, Taiwan, China, South Korea and Brazil

Other big findings:

--One in four watch multiple things at the same time, like a TV show on the big screen, and YouTube on the laptop, at least once a week.

--According to the study, 72% watch video on mobile devices at least once a week, and 42% do that away from home.    

--And 11% have reduced or eliminated pay TV from their lives in the last year. On the other hand, 19% increased their spend.   

pj@mediapost.com