• by Shankar Gupta , February 7, 2007

As online video became more prevalent last year, its popularity with Web users surged, according to a new study by Advertising.com.

Eighty-four percent of consumers recently surveyed by the ad network said their consumption of online video last year either stayed the same or increased from 2005. What's more, 66% said they view streaming content at least once per week.

Nearly all of the respondents--94%--said they preferred viewing an ad with their online video to paying a fee. Almost 61% said they thought online video ads should be shorter than TV ads, 18% said they should be more targeted, and 15% said the ads should be created exclusively for online.

News clips are the most popular type of content, with 49% of those surveyed saying they are likely to stream it, followed by music videos at 47%, movie trailers at 33%, TV shows at 26%, and user-generated videos at 21%. Respondents in the 18-34 demo tend to prefer TV shows, movie trailers, music videos, and user-generated videos, while viewers 35 and older favor news and sports clips.

The study also measured click-through rates on video ads placed on different content sites. Gaming sites had the highest click-through rates on their ads, with .87%, followed by career sites with .71% and auto sites with a .63% click-through rate.

The results were based on a January survey of 500 adult Web users.