Inauguration Prompted 45% Uptick In Video Viewing

  • January 28, 2009
Data from comScore shows that total online video viewing experienced a significant uptick on Inauguration Day.

Based on the comScore Video Metrix video measurement service, the data for Jan. 20 was compared to Jan. 13 to serve as a baseline comparison for a typical Tuesday. Compared to the baseline period, the number of unique video viewers increased 45% to 13 million, while the number of videos viewed grew 33% to 49.5 million and total minutes spent viewing video climbed 129% to 190 million.

The top three cable TV news sites, MSNBC.com, CNN.com, and FoxNews.com, attracted a disproportionate increase in the number of viewers compared to the Internet at large. The 4.1 million viewers who watched video on those sites from 12 noon to 1 p.m. EST (during which President Barack Obama took the oath of office and delivered his inaugural address) represented a fourteen-fold increase from the previous Tuesday.

"Online video coverage of President Obama's inauguration appears to represent a significant incremental audience to TV, since it presumably includes many people at work who did not have access to a TV," said Tania Yuki, senior product manager for comScore Video Metrix. "As such, the thirteen million online viewers during this time period likely represent an addition to the reported 40 million people who viewed the inauguration on TV. And, that so much of this online audience flocked to the Web sites of the major cable TV news outlets reflects a direct channel shift from TV to the Internet."--Tanya Irwin

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