• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, September 8, 2006

Americans ages 18-34 are roughly twice as likely to have downloaded television programs from the Web as the population at large, according to a new study by research firm Ipsos Insight.

Based on its survey of 1,143 Web users, Ipsos estimates that 10 percent of U.S. adults under 35 have downloaded a show, compared to 5 percent of the overall population. Downloading is even more prevalent among 18- to-24-year-olds; Ipsos reports that 14 percent of that group has downloaded a show.

Still, although the overall proportion of TV downloaders is small, it's growing quickly. Last year, just 2 percent of the population at large had downloaded TV shows, as did 5 percent of 18- to-34-year-olds.

But the penetration of long-form content remains low overall--only 3 percent of Americans have ever downloaded a feature-length movie. Short-form content, including music videos and news clips, remains most popular: 18 percent of Americans over the age of 12 have watched a streaming music video and 10 percent have downloaded one. Meanwhile, 9 percent have downloaded a movie trailer.

Todd Board, senior senior vice president of technology and communications practice at Ipsos, said the awkwardness of the "2-foot" viewing experience on computer screens is hindering demand for long-form content: "Watching movies and TV on the PC or portable devices is not exciting to mainstream America yet, as most consumers overwhelmingly prefer the '10-foot' experience for video content."