• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer, October 25, 2010

According to SAY Media, with comScore and TRU, consumers who've shifted the majority of their video viewing to non-live video content make up a significant portion of the adult, online population in the United States. This Off-the-Grid group represents nearly one third of the adult, online population in the United States -nearly 56 million people and growing, says the report.

Within the Off the Grid segment, consumers can be further categorized into sub-groups of Opt Outs and On Demanders. Opt Outs, 13% of online consumers, have completely opted out of live television and get their content by streaming across devices, through their DVR or on DVD. They consume 21 hours of video content in a typical week, half of which is online. 90% of this group actually does own a TV, 41% live in urban areas, and 30% falling into the 18-24 demographic.

On Demanders, 20% of online consumers, watch less live TV than they did one year ago and access video through a variety of devices that allows them to time and location shift to meet their busy schedule.

• They own an average of 5.4 devices for watching video, including their TV and PC
• Almost half of them subscribe to Netflix
• 40% own video-enabled mobile devices like smartphones or iPads
• Time and device shifting allows this group to consume 30 hours of video each week, compared to the Internet average of 25 hours per week

On Demanders are younger, more educated and affluent than general Internet users and have larger networks whom they influence. Opt Outs are younger, educated and urban. They should have higher earning power as they age.

Efficiency does not mean less time with video content. On Demanders watch 30 hours of video content weekly (compared to 21 hours for Opt Outs and 25 hours for the Rest of the Internet). Half of Opt Outs video content is streamed online, as is a quarter of On Demanders video content. 8-11pm is still prime time for video content (even 3 in 4 Opt Outs watch video content then). However, only half of On Demanders (as well as the Rest of the Internet) are watching live TV during that time slot.

Opt Outs are not only more receptive to online and mobile advertising, but they also are consuming online content at unprecedented rates. Opt Outs, on average spend 2 hours daily watching video content online (twice as much time as the Rest of Internet). They also over index for time spent on blogs as well as other content they might have gotten through live TV like sports or news. On Demanders spend more time with online video as well as online entertainment (gaming, humor and movie) content. 

Hours Spent Online Streaming

• Opt Outs    57 hrs           
• On Demanders    42 hrs           
• Rest Of Internet    33 hrs

Source: comScore behavioral analysis, October 2010

For these audiences, the desire to consume media efficiently has elevated choice and control as the two deciding factors on how they obtain their online content, says the report. The report concludes that the increased ability of consumers to easily avoid advertising messages means that the modern marketer must develop ads that are more content-rich and compelling in order for them to remain effective.

Matt Rosenberg, vice president of Solutions at SAY Media, says "... Getting people to engage in an on-demand world... is the biggest challenge marketers face today..."

To review the whitepaper with additional charts and graphs, please visit SayMedia here.