Half of TV viewers watch video on the Internet

Netflix commands largest share of viewers on game consoles, Hulu viewers mostly on computers

The broad range of devices, places and formats that allow consumers to view videos has had a deep impact on how we use technology -- but hasn't cut out the traditional TV experience yet. The latest Nielsen, State of the Media report, released this weekend, showed that more than half of the TV-watching public in the U.S. is consuming shows online in some capacity. 

Nearly 145 million people watch video online in the U.S., compared to about 290 million who watch traditional TV -- and time shifted or on-demand options of television has risen 11% since Q2 of 2010.

Nielsen estimates Americans spend an nearly 33 hours per week watching traditional TV.

They only spend an average of 3 hours and 58 minutes a week on the Internet, and only four hours week watching video online. It looks like, Internet TV consumption airs on the shorter side compared to movie and series watching online.  

Thirty million people reported that they watch TV or videos on their mobile phone -- which could be a major factor in the increase of monthly data usage seen in all demographics looked at, since last year.

The two demographics that saw the greatest increase of data consumption for mobile devices were the 18-24 year old group (jumping from 216 MB in Q3 2010 to 534 MB in Q3 2011) and 25-34 (which went from 264 MB to 578 MB.)

Video Services

When consumers turned to the Internet for their video needs, the top five destinations they used were YouTube, VEVO, Yahoo, Facebook and MSN/Windows. YouTube was the clear market leader, with 126.5 million unique viewers, whereas the number five spot held by MSN had 24.8 million unique viewers.

While Hulu and Netflix did not make the top 10 in unique viewers, both topped the list in time spent per month on their sites. Netflix was the clear leader in capturing viewers for the longest -- averaging 10 hours per month per person, YouTube was second with just under three hours and Hulu was fourth with nearly two and a half hours per month.

Netflix has shown the largest command of viewers using game consoles to watch their video, with 50% of Netflix users watching on some gaming device, while only 8% of Hulu users viewing videos in that manner.

Hulu announced in October that it would provide access to Hulu Plus via the Wii by the end of 2011, but the service has not been made available yet -- and Netflix continues to dominate the video consumption on gaming consoles so that people don't have to purchase dedicated video devices such as Roku, Boxee or Apple TV.

Hulu, however, commanded the most viewers watching directly from their computer (89% of Hulu users.)

In the mobile environment, respondents interacted with slightly different and more specific vide providers. After, the expected leader (YouTube), major broadcasters faired the best with FOX coming in second, then ABC, Comedy Central and CBS. 

Social Media

The study also looked at how consumers were accessing their social media networks. It looks like the two main modes of access remain as the computer and the mobile phone (with 97% and 37%, respectively.) Gaming consoles and iPads tied for a modest 3% of respondents reporting social media access through those devices.

Consumers looking for product advice were also using social media a fair amount in their decision-making process. When researching, 15% of prospective buyers went to the company's Facebook account for more information and 7% looked at the company Twitter account for further research.

(Image Source: Inflexwetrust.com)