Online viewing of newspaper video is up – 65% higher than in the same quarter last year according to a new research report “Online Video and Media Research”. The increase is attributed to audience interest in watching news about the Gulf oil spill. With a live feed supplied by BP, thousands of viewers tuned in to see the crisis. While the value of seeing the leak live may be questionable, it helped to maintain awareness and interest in the disaster. The upward trend points toward an exciting new phase of growth and expansion for online video in the media industry.
Video consumption on newspaper sites grew the most over this period. The fact that people seeking video turned to newspaper sites over broadcast presents a significant option for online newspapers. Newspapers had two billion video player loads across their websites. However, video consumption grew across all media industry, including broadcast networks, music labels, newspaper publishers, magazine publishers, and radio.
While monetization is an important incentive for media companies to use video, engagement is the top reason given for incorporating it, with brand building and audience growth also valuable.
Newspaper publishers saw the highest number of viewers coming to them via Yahoo!, but Twitter referrals generated the highest level of overall referrals to online video content. Referral traffic for online video from Facebook and Twitter is growing faster than that from traditional search engines. Facebook is expected to surpass Yahoo! within the year to become second only to Google. Therefore, Newspapers need to have a strong online presence in social media to maintain their audience.
Previously, there’s been little primary research available on the subject of online video. Two companies, Brightcove and TubeMogul teamed up to develop a new quarterly research report focused on the online video market. More than 1,800 media companies, businesses and organizations worldwide use Brightcove to publish and distribute video on the Web. TubeMongul tracks billions of video streams every month to help advertisers find consumers who want to watch their videos.
http://blog.brightcove.com/en/2010/09/brightcove-tubemogul-release-q2-online-video-research-report
