Online video has reached critical mass. Earlier this month comScore released compelling data stating that American’s viewed 11.4 billion videos for a total duration of 558 million hours in the month of July. Yes that’s right 11 BILLION videos! So let’s break this down a little bit:
- There is approximately 8,760 hours in a year (365 days times 24 hours in a day). This means that in July, and only July, Americans watched the equivalent of 63,698 years worth of video!
- Also just to break this down a little more we are only talking about Americans not the whole world.
- Figuring there is approximately 300 million people in the United States then every person watched approximately an hour and fifty two minutes of video online each.
So yes when I say online video has reached critical mass this data definitely seems to support that claim. Some additional interesting data from the report includes:
- 44% of videos were watched on Google Sites. YouTube accounting for 98% of this total.
- Fox Interactive Media sites held the very distant second highest share percent with 3.9.
- Over 142 million U.S. users watched an average of 80 videos per viewer in July.
- 75% of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online videos.
- The duration of the average online video was 2.9 minutes.
Accepted Channel and Audience
Online video has become an accepted channel to consume content. As we just saw 142 million U.S. consumers engaging in this medium. There already is a large audience ready to consume content. This is also a diverse group. With a population of this size almost every demographic segment you could think of is represented. You can target any audience that you want and produce video content to satisfy this audience. Video can be about anything so it is not a limiting technology.
Don’t Hesitate Get Onboard
A legitimate hesitation with any business considering entering the online video market has to be the uncertainty and horrible condition of the U.S. economy. The truth is Economic Meltdown or Not, Online Video Will Grow. People are spending more and more of their time online and video is one of the most engaging experiences a user can have online.
The cost to enter this channel has never been lower. I cheap digital camera like The Flip start at $150 dollars and going all the way up into High Definition cameras that can cost thousands. Production quality also doesn’t seem to be as major of a factor with online video as it would be for television broadcast quality. YouTube is a testament that the quality of your video isn’t as important as the quality of the content and its relevance.
Instead of spending thousands or millions of dollars on traditional media give online video a shot. You can spend a fraction of that online and the audience is there. Besides the worst that can happen is you invest a few hundred dollars in a cheap camera and shoot some footage that you upload for free. The point is to get into the market and get comfortable now before you are too late.