The It Crowd The Internet Is Coming Watch Online

[Michael]

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During the fourth quarter of 2023, online videos recorded an audience reach of around 92.3 percent among internet users worldwide. In recent years, video has become one of the most popular online formats, spanning from educational content to product reviews. Music videos recorded the highest category reach, with almost half of internet users worldwide reporting to watch music videos online each week.

As of June 2022, smartphones and televisions were the most used devices for global viewers to watch video-on-demand (VOD), with 36 percent and 34 percent of respondents reporting using these devices, respectively. Age group and generation are factors impacting viewership habits and device preferences, as younger users appear to prefer using their smartphones to consume content. According to a December 2022 survey, U.S. users aged 18- 34 years were more likely to watch video content on smartphones than any other devices. By comparison, connected TVs were particularly popular for the online video audience aged 35 and older.

Overall, 62% of online video viewers say that their favorite videos are those that are professionally produced, while 19% of online video viewers express a preference for amateur content. Another 11% say they enjoy both professionally-produced video and amateur online video equally.

Again, young adults stand out as a unique group of online video viewers. Fully 30% of online video viewers ages 18-29 say they prefer amateur video, and 16% say they like both amateur and professionally-produced video equally. Just 51% of young adult viewers say their favorite videos to watch are those that are professionally-produced. For young adult men who are online video viewers, that number is even lower; 43% express a clear preference for professional video, while 34% prefer amateur content. Another 19% of male video viewers ages 18-29 say they enjoy both amateur and professional content.

Those who rate or comment on video are also more likely than the average online video viewer to express a preference for amateur material; while 48% say they still prefer professional video, 26% prefer amateur content and 21% say they enjoy both types of video equally.

News outlets were among the first big investors in the online video realm and their early-mover advantage shows. News video is the most-watched genre of video, with 37% of adult internet users reporting some type of viewing or downloading, and 10% saying they watch news videos on a typical day. Aside from the plethora of news content posted on video sharing sites like YouTube and Google Video, news-related video can now be found on virtually any website associated with major network TV news channels, cable TV news, and on most mainstream newspaper websites. Additionally, blogs, video podcasts, personal websites and social networking websites also feature news-related video.

News content captures the attention of users across all generations, and is the most popular genre with every age group except for those ages 18-29. For young adults, comedy is a bigger draw, with 56% of internet users ages 18-29 saying they watch humorous videos, compared with 43% who say they watch news videos. However, on a typical day, young adult internet users are equally as likely to view news and comedy; 15% of those 18-29 report viewing in both categories on the average day. Indeed, much of the content viewed by young adults, such as clips from The Daily Show or The Colbert Report blurs the line between news and comedy.

Those with higher levels of income and education are more likely to report news video viewing, a trend that is not consistent across all video content categories. Particularly with respect to income, online video viewers in other genres tend to be equally distributed among different earning groups.

Young adults consume and probably also contribute much of the video content that falls into the comedy category. While more than half of young adult internet users say they watch or download humorous video online, just 29% of users ages 30-49, 17% of those 50-64, and 12% of those ages 65 and older report this. As is the case with news content, male users are also more active consumers of comedy content online; 38% of men watch or download comedy video, versus 25% of online women. On a typical day 9% of male users and 5% of female users watch or download humorous video content.

However, as is the case with comedy, young adults are usually the ones watching. While 46% of users ages 18-29 are music video consumers, less than half as many 30-49 year olds (19%) say they watch or download music video online. Just 9% of users age 50 and older watch or download music videos. It comes as no surprise, then, that young adults are also the most frequent music video viewers; 13% say they watch music video on an average day.

Online men are generally more likely to consume music videos when compared with women (26% vs. 19%), but both groups are equally as likely to seek out music videos on a typical day (5% vs. 4%). Much of the gap between men and women for music video viewing stems from the 30-49 age group. For young adults, and users over the age of 50, differences in the incidence of music video viewing are not significant.

While music videos may be created primarily for entertainment, videos with educational content are equally as popular among the general population of internet users, and even more so for older adults. Roughly one in five internet users (22%) say they watch or download educational videos, and 3% do so on a typical day. However, there is very little variation across age groups; young adult internet users watch or download educational video content at about the same rate as users aged 65 and older (28% vs. 21%).

Men and women report educational video watching at the same level; 24% of online men consume educational videos vs. 20% of online women. This is the only genre of online video, other than movies and TV, where there is gender parity among those who watch.

Animation videos have captured the attention of 19% of the online population of adults. Three percent of internet users report watching or downloading animated video on a typical day. Not surprisingly, younger users account for much of the animation audience online, as 32% of internet users ages 18-29 say they watch or download animation or cartoons online, while 19% of users age 30-49 report this. Just 9% of users age 50 and older say they have watched animated videos online.

Movies and television content are also the province of the young; nearly a third of users ages 18-29 watch or download movies and TV shows, while half as many among those ages 30-49 do so (30% vs. 16%). Just 7% of users age 50 and older say they get movies and television shows online. Male and female users say they get movies and TV shows online in equal numbers (16% and 17%).

Political video content currently garners about the same number of viewers as those who say they watch or download movies and television shows online; 15% of internet users say they have sought out political video content online, and 2% report doing this on a typical day. Most political video viewers are under the age of 50 and have higher levels of education. One in five young adult internet users watch political video content online and 5% will do so on a typical day. Online men are more likely to view political content when compared with online women; 18% vs. 12%.

Political content is especially popular among the segment of video viewers who rate or comment on online video. Fully 44% of those who give some form of feedback after viewing say they seek political video online.

Whether viewers are interested in highlights or bloopers, soccer or hurling, sports video content is widely available online. However, the total audience that seeks any kind of sports information online is three times the size of the sports video watching audience. In August of 2006, 45% of adult internet users said they got sports scores and information online and 15% did so on a typical day. In comparison, 14% of internet users now say they watch or download sports video and 3% say they do so on a typical day.

While respondents are highly unlikely to admit that they view adult video content, 6% of internet users do report watching or downloading adult video content online, and 1% report adult video consumption on a typical day. Men and younger users are unsurprisingly the ones most likely to report adult video viewing. While 11% of male internet users say they watch or download adult video content online, just 1% of female internet users report this. Likewise, 13% of users ages 18-29, 5% of those 30-49, 1% of those 50-64 and 3% of those 65 and older say they watch or download adult video.

Providing free access to video content has been central to the popularity of YouTube and other online video portals. At the moment, few online video viewers are paying for any of the video they watch; just 7% of say they have paid to access or download video online.

However, young adults, who are often thought to have little interest in paying for music and other digital media, are actually more likely than older video viewers to have paid for online video content. While 10% of online video viewers ages 18-29 have paid to access or download online video, just 3% of video viewers ages 50-64 have done so.

There are currently no significant differences between men and women and users across all economic and education levels when it comes to paying for online video content. However, among the small group of video viewers who say they also upload video content (n=93), 20% say they have paid for access to online video. Just 5% of video viewers who have never uploaded say they have paid for video.

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