James Delahunty
11 Jan 2008 18:10
According to a report released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, daily Internet traffic to video-sharing websites such as Google Inc.'s YouTube doubled in 2007 compared to the previous year. The report stated that nearly half of adult Internet users have visited these video sites. In December 2006, 33% of of Internet users had been to video-sharing sites, and now it sits at 48%.
Of 2,054 adults surveyed between late October and early December, about 15% claimed to watched an online video the day before they were asked, which is up from 8% in 2006. Men continue to lead women in this area, with 53% of male respondents being frequent viewers compared to 43% of female respondents. However, average daily use among women did raise enough to contribute significantly to the overall increases.
The main reasons for the continued growth in online video is the increasing amount of homes with broadband and the rapidly growing catalog of video content on sites like YouTube. Far more people also posted their own videos to these websites than those who did in 2006. "Everything connected to online video doubled last year," said James McQuivey, an analyst at industry research firm Forrester.
"In 2008, more content owners will respond by making their content even more available online than in 2007," McQuivey predicted.
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