Amidst recent chatter about the rise of web video, Nielsen announced some surprising statistics that show a decline in online video viewing in the first quarter of 2010. According to Nielsen, “TV still remains the preferred screen of choice”, and could remain so for some time if the statistics have anything to say about it.
Nielsen’s quarterly Three Screen Report shows that in the last quarter of 2009 the average video consumer watched 3 hours and 22 minutes of video online per month. In the first quarter of 2010 this number dropped to 3 hours and 10 minutes, on average. This 12-minute difference may seem insignificant, but when you multiply that by the number of people that view online videos that is a huge decrease.
Interestingly, in addition to the decline in online video viewing the Nielsen statistics show a decline in the number of people using the Internet on a PC in general. In the first quarter of 2010 the average consumer spent about 25 hours and 26 minutes per month using the Internet on a PC, down from 26 hours and 32 minutes in the previous quarter and a whopping 29 hours and 15 minutes a year ago.
Nielsen does not offer statistics for time spent using the Internet on a mobile device, but the recent rise of the smart phone could be a big factor in the decline of web surfing on a PC during the last year. However, the average time spent watching video on a mobile phone has not changed over the past year, remaining consistent at 3 hours and 37 minutes across the board. Nielsen stats also showed that adults view more mobile video than teens, according to ReadWriteWeb, debunking the idea that teens are the “early adaptors” that will initiate the move from television to web and mobile video.
Television viewers, on the other hand, have shown a dramatic increase in the amount of time spent watching per month. Television viewers spent 153 hours and 47 minutes watching television at home in the last quarter of 2009. In the first quarter of 2010 this number rose to 158 hours and 25 minutes. This is obviously a much larger number than the amount of time consumers spend viewing videos on the web.
According to Nielsen’s statistics it doesn’t look like web video will overtake television any time soon. Do you watch more programming on your television set or on the Internet? Do you think that web video replacing television in the future is a real possibility?
