• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, February 9, 2005

Fueled by the rise in high-speed Web access, the majority of Internet users view at least one streaming video feed per month, according to a study released Tuesday by the Online Publishers Association.

The organization reported that nearly three out of four Web users--74 percent--have viewed online video at least once; 51 percent do so a minimum of once a month; 27 percent watch streaming video at least once a week; and 5 percent view Web video streams daily. For the report, "Drivers & Barriers To Online Video Viewing," the Online Publishers Association and Frank N. Magid Associates surveyed more than 27,000 Web users age 13 and older last October and November. The researchers intercepted respondents from 25 news, information, and entertainment Web sites, including USAToday.com, GameSpot.com, and Weather.com.

In fact, not only do many Web users regularly watch streaming video, but they would apparently watch even more, if additional clips were available. "One of the major takeaways is that there's more demand for video than consumers can find," said Michael Zimbalist, president of the Online Publishers Association. That conclusion is based on the finding that 59 percent of respondents discovered online videos via random Web surfing, while only 43 percent of respondents said they had previously watched a streaming video on the site where they were intercepted--mainly because they didn't know videos were available on the site. If more video was available--and respondents knew where to find it--they would presumably watch more.

Most survey respondents--70 percent--reported having watched an online video ad, and many indicated that the spots spurred them to action. When asked what they did, if anything, as a result of viewing the ad, 34 percent said they investigated a Web site, while 15 percent requested additional information, 14 percent visited a brick-and-mortar store, 10 percent forwarded the ad to another person, 9 percent made a purchase, and 3 percent ordered a subscription. But more than half of the respondents--56 percent--said they hadn't done any of those activities in response to the ad.

For now, broadband video represents only a small portion of online advertising. JupiterResearch predicts online video ads to amount to $200 million this year, out of a total rich media ad spend of $1.5 billion. Research firm eMarketer predicts that all rich media--the majority of which is flash ads, as opposed to streaming video--will account for about $1 billion online ad dollars, out of a total Internet ad spend of $11.3 billion.

Still, the study could encourage online marketers to purchase more streaming video spots if only because of the desirable demographics of those who watch online video: the mean age of those who watch online video at least once a week is 40, and nearly one out of four--23 percent--have household income exceeding $100,000; sixty-three percent are male.

What do they watch online? The largest proportion, 66 percent, report viewing streams of news and current events, while 49 percent see movie trailers, 29 percent eyeball music videos, and 27 percent check out sports highlights. Those figures might be somewhat skewed, however, because many of the sites included in the survey were online newspapers or magazines, said Zimbalist.