The L.A. Times Tech blogger, David Colker pointed us to a survey by the nonprofit Conference Board that was released this week. It shows that almost 25% of households in the U.S. now watch their TV shows online. That’s up from 20% who watched television programs on the computer last year.
Nearly 80 percent of consumers rely upon their high-speed internet for entertainment daily. In fact, entertainment is cited as one of the most important Internet activities, behind only personal communication and work-related activities.
This quarterly Consumer Internet Barometer survey found that news programs are viewed by 43% of online watchers—who might want their news with internet speed, rather than waiting for scheduled programs. 35% watch sitcoms, comedies and dramas. Then it goes down to 19% who view reality shows and 18% favoring sports (that number might be higher if more live sports events were shown free online).
And Hulu.com is fast becoming the hot site – just behind YouTube.com – for watching TV programs. In fact, the number of households visiting Hulu.com has increased almost fourfold in the last year. Offering shows from NBC, ABC, Fox and others, Hulu didn’t debut until March 2007.
Consumers are moving away from “appointment” TV, preferring to watch programs whenever they choose. Being able to view favorite shows at any time, along with personal convenience, are the two major reasons cited by more than half of consumers for turning to online TV. Consumers also cite portability as another benefit.
“Online viewing allows users to watch TV on their own schedule, catch up on missed content and focus on their favorite programs,” says Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. “As result, about 20 percent of consumers say their traditional TV viewing has declined.”