A recent survey conducted by LiveRail found that young adults (18-24) now spend more time watching Web-distributed video than broadcast television. LiveRail concluded that this trend was largely due to an increase in the availability of quality, long-form content from sites like Hulu and TV.com rather than increased viewing of short-format user-generated content. 53% of the respondents stated that, in an average month, they spent “more time watching online video than TV.” About 19% of respondents said they watched “about the same,” while 28% said they watched “more TV than online video.” If this survey is accurate, TV may be losing its dominance of the media landscape more rapidly than many have predicted.
Although I believe there is no argument that online video is increasing in importance, I question the results of this survey because it was done exclusively using online social networking sites such as MySpace and FaceBook. This research approach most likely significantly skewed the data and rendered the results “unscientific.” Even though I don’t trust the results, the survey does cause me to wonder how fast online video (especially long-format video) really is replacing TV for the younger generation. What is your opinion?
Asking for the opinions of those who read this site will also give you very skewed results considering the types of articles you provide. The majority of your readers probably use the Internet a lot more than the average consumer.
As for my family, thanks to Hulu and Netflix Watch Instantly we have very little interest in watching television shows on TV anymore. I live in Southern California, and my LDS friend in Wisconsin agrees that his family watches almost everything online now, too. My wife and I, along with my friend and his wife, are above the 18-24 age range by an average of 5 years.
Hallelujah. We need to get away from having mass communication that is dominated by media where small organizations cannot afford to participate (TV, Print, Radio).
I do probably watch more television programming online than over-the-air. The main reason is that I have FHE on Monday nights, our ward missionary activities on Tuesday nights, choir on Wednesday nights, and an occasional institute class on Friday nights. I just don’t have that much time to watch TV when it is live, and I don’t want to have to afford a Tivo.
It is an interesting media landscape we’re entering – one in which will be dominated by individuals and small organizations, with mass media being produced by the masses.
The professor in my senior communications class asked us what we would do as up and coming journalists when everyone could play the role of a journalist. One conclusion, besides becoming extinct as a profession, was that we would become organizers of the information. We’re seeing this in part as the networks incorporate YouTube videos and blog comments in their stories.
But more importantly to their survival is providing the professionally produced content on-demand. For me, clicking on the news stories that interest me, finding more of a similar nature, or skipping ones in which I lose interest far outweighs being fed three minute commercial breaks and a series of stories I’d rather not hear since time is short. My mom, in her fifties, watches the news like this daily.
I agree the transition of media on television to online may happen faster than we think. When I graduated four years ago this idea of audience empowerment was hard for me to grasp. Now I can’t imagine any other way.
What a blessing for the Church to have this tool at it’s fingertips to spread the message of the Gospel.