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A recent Harris Poll of 2,309 U.S. adults, of whom 363 are frequent YouTube viewers, conducted online by Harris Interactive between December 12 and 18, 2006, found that almost one in three of these frequent YouTube users say they are watching less TV as a result of the time they spend there. However, 73 percent of frequent YouTube users say they would visit the site less if it started including short video ads before every clip. 42 percent of online U.S. adults say they have watched a video at YouTube, and 14 percent say they visit the site frequently.

Of all frequent YouTube users:

* 66% claim they are sacrificing other activities when on YouTube
* 36% say their visits to the site are most likely to have been at the expense of visiting other websites
* 32% say their time spent watching TV is next most likely to have taken a hit
* 20% think that YouTube also pre-empts email and other online social networking
* 19% defer work/homework
* 15% aren’t playing video games
* 12% are not watching DVD(s) and not spending time with friends and family in person

YouTube usage is greatest among the group already hardest to reach through television advertising: young males. 76% of 18 to 24 year old males say they have watched a video at YouTube, and 41% visit YouTube frequently.

Aongus Burke, Senior Research Manager of Harris Interactive’s Media & Entertainment Practice, says “…YouTube …has really emerged as a major force in, and problem for, the traditional entertainment industry. Not only is YouTube using a lot of their own content to steal the eyeballs they want the most, the site has provided a launching pad to wholly new forms of user-generated video entertainment that are gaining popularity quickly.”

In the last year, TV networks have successfully experimented with airing of TV episodes with commercials on their websites. Nearly as many online adults (41%) say they have watched a video at a TV network website as they have at YouTube (42%). It seems like TV networks can get away with advertising more easily. Nearly three-quarters of adults who frequently visit YouTube say they would visit it a lot (31%) or a little (42%) less often if a short commercials before every clip were included.

Burke concludes that “…consumers as a rule are not averse to watching commercials online in order to catch an episode of a TV show they would otherwise miss. Yet those who are accustomed to finding and watching everything for free at YouTube may have developed a very different set of expectations for the site.”

Source: The Harris Poll, January 2007 via Mediapost

http://geoff-caplan.com, email geoffcaplan@mac.com

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