• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, November 27, 2012

Dividing the country down the middle, half of U.S. consumers now view over-the-top (OTT) video through broadband connections on their TVs, in addition to the content they traditionally watch via cable or satellite.
 
Consumers are also viewing content on mobile devices, creating video playlists, posting videos on social media, and learning about new TV programs and video offerings through social networks, the consulting firm found.
 
“We are seeing a seismic shift in consumer viewing habits,” said Robin Murdoch, a managing director in Accenture’s Media & Entertainment industry group. “The connected consumer is now comfortable viewing TV shows and video on a variety of screens, as well as sharing opinions of that content via social channels or recommendation engines.”
 
The survey found that younger viewers are leading the way in using these new technologies to view video content.
 
Domestically, 82% of consumers between the ages of 18 and 24 watch some OTT video, with 60% watching at least a quarter of their video over-the-top compared to 32% of U.S. consumers overall.
 
Younger consumers are also more likely to discover new content through social networks, as opposed to learning about it through commercials or programming guides.
 
The survey showed that 35% of 18-to-24 viewers are interested in social newsfeeds of videos that friends have watched, compared with 11% of consumers age 45+.
 
Today, 49% of consumers between the United States and the United Kingdom subscribe to a range of video delivery services, indicating that OTT video consumption has grown at a remarkable rate since last measured by Accenture in March 2011 at 8%.
 
The industry is now witnessing subscription and access levels similar to those for satellite among the online group surveyed.
 
In the U.S., 27% of those surveyed subscribe to OTT services such as Netflix Instant Streaming, compared with 28% who subscribe to satellite. What’s more, 16% of U.S. consumers subscribe to gaming console-based video delivery services, and 4% subscribe to set-top subscription services such as Apple TV, Boxee or Google TV.
 
Based on a weighted average, respondents who use social media had, on average, over three friends who posted videos at least once per day, while 38% of respondents had posted or re-posted video online via social media.
 
Most often, this involved consumers sharing videos posted by friends -- 51% overall -- reinforcing the viral nature of video-sharing online.