A survey by Harris Interactive found that 32 percent of frequent YouTube users say they watch less TV as a result of visiting the site. To put this into perspective, 14 percent of U.S. online adults say they’re frequent YouTube users, which works out to 4.5 percent of online adults. Another interesting statistic: 73 percent of frequent YouTube users said they would visit the site less if pre-roll ads were tacked on the beginning of clips. Ouch. More stats in the release below…
PRESS RELEASE — ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Few vehicles are as effective
at reaching large segments of the population as television, a fact that has
established it as the favored medium for advertisers in many product
categories. For as long as that has been the case, however, TV networks and
advertisers have been fearful of emerging competitors and technologies that
threaten their route into consumers’ minds. From the remote control to the
Digital Video Recorder (DVR), there have long been predictions that live TV
and its embedded advertisements were going to be adversely affected by
consumers’ ability to bypass commercials. More recently, a different kind
of threat has emerged from YouTube, the Internet’s response to one-stop
digital video viewing.
Recent research by Harris Interactive(R) suggests that this fear may
indeed be warranted. Over four in 10 (42%) online U.S. adults say they have
watched a video at YouTube, and 14 percent say they visit the site
frequently. Almost one in three (32%) of these frequent YouTube users say
they are watching less TV as a result of the time they spend there.
However, YouTube has its own set of challenges as it tries to monetize the
viewer traffic it has amassed. If YouTube is considering airing ads before
its videos, they may be advised to halt that thinking; 73 percent of
frequent YouTube users say they would visit the site less if it started
including short video ads before every clip.
These are just some of the results of a recent Harris Poll of 2,309
U.S. adults (ages 18 and older), of whom 363 are frequent YouTube viewers,
conducted online by Harris Interactive between December 12 and 18, 2006.
YouTube Viewers
Of all frequent YouTube users, two-thirds (66%) claim they are
sacrificing other activities when on YouTube. Although their visits to the
site are most likely to have been at the expense of visiting other websites
(36%), time spent watching TV is next most likely to have taken a hit
(32%). YouTube also cuts into email and other online social networking
(20%), work/homework (19%), playing video games (15%), watching DVD(s)
(12%) and even spending time with friends and family in person (12%).
Further compounding the problem for the TV and advertising, YouTube
usage is greatest among the group already hardest to reach through
television advertising: young males. Over three-quarters (76%) of 18 to 24
year old males say they have watched a video at YouTube, and 41 percent
visit YouTube frequently.
“We know from some of our other data on teens that YouTube is just as
popular with them as it is with young adults,” says Aongus Burke, Senior
Research Manager of Harris Interactive’s Media & Entertainment Practice.
“It has really emerged as a major force in, and problem for, the
traditional entertainment industry. Not only is YouTube using a lot of
their own content to steal the eyeballs they want the most, the site has
provided a launching pad to wholly new forms of user-generated video
entertainment that are gaining popularity quickly.”
Advertising on YouTube
However, YouTube faces challenges of its own as it tries to cash in on
the house that it has built. When asked if the inclusion of short
commercials before every clip would change how often they will visit
YouTube, nearly three-quarters of adults who frequently visit the site say
they would visit it a lot (31%) or a little (42%) less often as a result.
“To be fair,” says Burke, “as far as we know, YouTube has never
publicly said that they are considering including short commercials before
the clips on their site. However, we wanted to see how much resistance
there would be at that extreme. Apparently, there is a lot.”
Indeed, in the last year, TV networks have successfully experimented
with airing of TV episodes with commercials on their websites. Nearly as
many online adults (41%) say they have watched a video at a TV network
website as they have at YouTube (42%). It seems like TV networks can get
away with advertising more easily.
“Indeed, we have seen in previous data,” says Burke, “that consumers as
a rule are not averse to watching commercials online in order to catch an
episode of a TV show they would otherwise miss. Yet those who are
accustomed to finding and watching everything for free at YouTube may have
developed a very different set of expectations for the site.”
