"Clearly the use of online video demonstrates that the Internet has become a mass platform for distributing video content to a wide cross section of Americans," said Mike Vorhaus, senior vice president and managing director for Frank N. Magid Associates, Inc., the media-oriented consulting and research firm that conducted this research. The types of video being consumed by Americans include a wide variety of content. News stories are reported by consumers as the most frequently viewed video they watch regularly on the Internet. Over a third of online Americans 12 to 64 watch online video news stories regularly. Video content described as jokes/bloopers, weather, and movie previews are tied for second most regularly viewed video content. Closely following these are music videos and "videos shot by consumers and uploaded to Web sites like YouTube" - a more consumer- friendly way of saying "user-generated content."
Of course, some demographic groups are very different from other age and gender groups. For instance, news stories are more appealing to older age- groups (those 45 to 64), while jokes/bloopers are strongest among teens.
"The breadth of content viewed by consumers regularly online is amazing. This is not just short clips on YouTube. Consumers are watching news stories, movie previews, clips from TV shows, and, in some cases, even full-length TV shows and movies," Vorhaus said. "The breadth of content online today is growing and consumers are using it," Vorhaus concluded.
The Magid research also indicates that Internet homes in the U.S. are moving forward technologically as the expansion of wireless networks into the home increases dramatically. Two years ago, in 2005, only 16 percent of Internet homes had wireless networks. In 2007, over 41 percent of Internet homes have wireless networks, which is a growth of 156 percent in two years. "Right now it may mostly be computers and printers on home networks. We imagine TV sets will readily be part of home networks in the years ahead," Vorhaus commented.