By Alex Burmaster | European Internet Analyst | Nielsen Online
The wide-ranging use of the phrase ‘online video’ implies a simple coherent entity. Of course, everything needs a moniker but online video is an incredibly diverse ecosystem in terms of what’s on offer, who’s using it and when.
From an ad format perspective, clients and agencies have recently had some help on making sense of this new medium, with the IAB’s set of industry-wide standards. However, when it comes to online viewer behaviour most are still in the dark – for example “short-form for the young, long-form for the old” is one I’ve heard frequently. MySpace Videos and YouTube are predominantly ‘short-form’ video whilst the iPlayer and 4oD would be ‘long-form’.
True that, in June 2008, MySpace Videos and YouTube ‘over-performed’ on attracting under 18s - i.e. under 18s make-up a greater percentage of YouTube’s audience (13.3%) compared to how much they make-up of the entire Internet audience (11.8%) - whilst BBC iPlayer and Channel 4oD ‘under-performed’ on this group.
However, all four significantly over-perform on attracting 18-24 year olds, particularly 4oD with 21% of its audience made-up of this group compared to the 12% they make up of the entire online audience. To challenge the “short-form, young; long-form, old” mantra even more, MySpace Videos is the only one of the four to ‘over-perform’ on attracting 35-49 year olds – and by quite a degree.
There is, however, consistently good news for advertisers and publishers in that all four over-perform on attracting the richest households (BBC iPlayer the most) - hence the importance on getting the ad formats right.
When it comes to actual behaviour things become even more complex – what’s being watched, how often and when? VideoCensus, for example shows that the work lunchtime slot (12-2pm) accounts for around 8-9% of all sports and entertainment video streams yet leaps to account for 14% for all news streams. During the working day (9-5pm) sports streamers will view 10 sports streams, news streamers 11 news streams yet entertainment streamers will view over 30 entertainment streams.
Time spent viewing streams can also differ wildly from sector to sector. For example, as we move from the weekday lunchtime into the afternoon, evening and night, time spent on entertainment streams steadily increases yet for sports streams there is a consistent and steady decrease. Furthermore, during the day at the weekend (6am-8pm) the average sports video streamer will spend 11 minutes doing this, the average news streamer 12 minutes, yet for entertainment streamers it leaps to almost 48 minutes.
These complex, and often contrasting, characteristics require that publishers and advertisers undertake a far more granular look inside ‘online video’ behaviour to truly take advantage of it.
By Alex Burmaster | European Internet Analyst | Nielsen Online
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Posted on January 6, 2012 6:00 PM