Online Video Viewer Stats

Online video is showing no signs of slowing down in growth. As the latest comScore statistics for December 2009 show.

178 million Internet users in the U.S. watched online video during the last month of the decade. Which equates to almost 87 percent market penetration.

Between them they watched over 33 billion videos in December, or the equivalent of 187 videos each. The average length of video now stands at 4.1 minutes, up from 3.5 minutes around the same time last year.

YouTube Leading

As always, YouTube is leading the pack by quite a margin. 13 billion (40 percent) of the 33 billion video total were watched on the Google-owned site. The 136 million people who used YouTube averaged 97 videos per user.

With viewer numbers and loyalty like that it’s really no wonder Google is trying to shape YouTube into a site which can turn a profit, be it from movie rentals, a TV subscription service, or better advertising options.

Hulu Growing

Hulu ranks second again, as it has done for a while now. However, it’s a long way behind YouTube, with a 3 percent market share. Not that Hulu is complaining though, as it has broken the one billion videos barrier for the first time in its history.

Hulu is almost certainly to launch paid options this year, but it’s viewer numbers such as this which will ensure a free option always remains. Hulu would be mad to put all its content behind a paywall and lose that momentum at a stroke.

Conclusions

I cannot see anyone ever catching YouTube. The site continues to go from strength to strength, picking up new viewers, serving more videos than ever, and innovating to stay ahead of the chasing pack.

Online video as a whole is continuing its long march upwards. And that’s unlikely to stall anytime soon. The emerging tablet computer sector, as led by the Apple iPad, is promising to change the way we access media content, and that can only be good for Web video.

DeliTV is a Yahoo Pipe created by Tony Hirst, a lecturer at The Open University in the UK.

This pipe allows anyone to program their own online TV channel from Boxee by bookmarking pages on Delicious with the tag “delitv”.

• Yahoo Pipes is a tool that aggregates and manipulates all sorts of content from the web.
• Boxee is free software that streams content from sites like MLB, Netflix, Pandora, Last.fm, and Flickr on a laptop or connected to a TV.

DeliTV supports:

• BBC iPlayer category feeds
• podcast feeds
• Youtube videos
• Youtube Playlists
• Youtube channels
• another DeliTV playlist
• an MP3 file

Setting Up

After running the pipe, you can subscribe to the RSS feed that Yahoo Pipes creates in Boxee as a video feed.

Using Delicious as a curation tool offers flexibility: users can generate multiple playlists, users can subscribe to other people’s playlists and created nested feeds.

To subscribe to other users’ playlists, search for the delitv tag on Delicious to see who has been bookmarking content.

You can also subscribe to other users playlists by rewriting a URL:

Use the name of the user whose Deli TV channel you want to subscribe to in the following URL:

http://pipes.yahoo.com/ouseful/delitv?_render=rss&q=DELICIOUS_USERNAME

So for example, Tony Hirst’s feed is at:

http://pipes.yahoo.com/ouseful/delitv?_render=rss&q=psychemedia

You then just copy and paste this RSS URL into Boxee and it will then add new video for you to watch every time you tag a page with deli

User Experience

According to the comments on Hirst’s blog, OUseful.info, (where he writes about “things that I think may be useful in an higher education context, one day”) the setup is working well.

It does take some time for Delicious to propagate links to its RSS feeds, but that seems to be the only delay. Also, users outside of the UK will not be able to use BBC iPlayer links. Boxee has a few bugs of its own, including occasional hang-ups, but for the most part, my experience has been very good.

I’ve been using Boxee to watch TV on my laptop for a few months now, and Deli TV is a great way to add personalized content. I can get all my videos and podcasts in one place, rather than visiting multiple websites each day for updates.

It’s sort of like an RSS reader for multimedia. Although popular RSS readers like Google Reader support multimedia, the experience is not as polished.

If you don’t already have a Delicious account, this might be a good enough reason to get one.

Useful Links

• DeliTV
• Boxee
• Delicious

You may also be interested in:

• More about Boxee on WebTVWire
• How to Connect your PC to a HDMI TV – Boxee works great on a TV set.

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As Yahoo prepares a new version of its Yahoo Messenger chat application, a beta version of Yahoo Messenger 10 is already downloadable for Windows users.

For this version of the application, Yahoo has focused its attention on webcam features. The selling point on this update is the ability to start high-quality video calls with audio. Until now, users could make low-quality video calls with no audio feature.

This new feature will only work for one-to-one calls to other users with the same version. The older ability to broadcast your webcam to multiple users (no audio) has not been updated.

From the Yahoo Messenger Blog:

Features include the ability to swap video windows, position the video windows side-by-side, mute the call or place it on hold. You can even go full-screen with your video call. To get started, click the new “Video Call” button in the IM window.

Video of New Features:

In addition to the video update, Yahoo has made a few other improvements:

• Real-time stream of updates from Twitter, Yahoo Buzz, last.fm, etc.
• Start chat from updates (recent activity, availability)
• New ways to sort contacts
• Updated icon designs

I don’t know anybody who uses Yahoo Messenger anymore; most of my friends have migrated to Skype or Google Chat. However, they either have enough users that Yahoo would bother to invest in building up the video application or else they are trying to attract users from other apps.

Complaints Already Pouring In

Despite the Beta tag, over 100 comments on the Yahoo Messenger Blog are complaints about design, missing features and user friendliness.  At least 20 bugs were found by users within the first few hours of release, which will hopefully be fixed for the final version.

Personally, I think they’ve lost this fight, although Y! Messenger seems to be very popular in some European countries. Several commenters from Romania are begging for a translation; one said:

Oh come on Romanians are mega-fans of Y! Messenger… it’s a true phenomenon… we even have the word “mes” to denote Y! Messenger in sentences like “hai intră pe mes” (”go log in on Y! Messenger”)

Get Yahoo Messenger 10

Download:
Version 10 Beta Available at Yahoo

You may also be interested in:

• WebTVWire’s Free Video Chat Guide
• Trillian – Use AIM, Yahoo Messenger, MSN, ICQ and Gtalk, Skype Twitter & more all in one program.

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NBC spent the run-up to the Olympics in China talking up its extensive coverage of the Games.

And with over 2,200 hours of footage being made available online, it certainly had a right to brag.

Technical Issues Galore

Unfortunately, there have been technical limitations and issues surrounding the online coverage. This means viewers not only need to have Vista to watch any footage, but also have no firewall installed on their PC.

Broadcast delays to stop any loss of viewers and advertising from traditional TV have also affected Web viewer numbers, with many finding alternative (and often illegal) methods of watching their favourite event.

Even when viewers do get the chance to watch coverage of the Games on NBC’s site, they are often faced with footage without any kind of commentary, poor quality video, or even an event location but no action taking place.

Yahoo Sports Win

The company is doing fantastically well in terms of television coverage, but the online portion of its offerings has told a different story.

Yahoo Sports dedicated Olympic website has actually achieved better visitor numbers so far than NBC has. Over the first three days of the Olympics, Yahoo managed 1.3 million more visitors than NBC’s site did.

NBC Happy

NBC is far from unhappy though, with Gary Zenkel, president of NBC Olympics telling Wired:

“These record numbers validate our multiplatform strategy. They drive viewers to share in the Olympic experience on network television in record numbers.”

“And as a result of this unprecedented digital effort, consumers have a destination to watch thousands of hours of video and relive the great moments of these Olympics.”

Lessons For The Future

NBC is probably happy because in terms of its priorities, it has achieved what it set out to. It has fostered Web video viewers for the future while at the same time not putting its lucrative TV coverage at risk due to a conflict of interests.

London 2012 could be very different. Not only will NBC have had the chance to iron out the technical issues that have blighted this Games, but online advertising may have increased to a level to compare with that of traditional television.

• UK Users: Watch the Olympics Online at the BBC website
• U.S Users: Watch the Olympics Online at the NBC website

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Buy the ‘Beijing Olympics 2008′ game for the PS3 from Amazon

However, Bush himself clearly hasn’t been with it.

However, now that he’s on his way of the White House door, hopefully to be replaced by Barack Obama, he’s decided to embrace the medium and this week gave his first video interview intended purely for the Web.

Yahoo! Video Scoop

Yahoo! Video were the lucky ones to get the scoop, as part of their Politico series of interviewing the candidates and other people involved in the forthcoming election. Mike Allen got to interview the President in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.

Bush was asked a diverse range of questions, from serious ones about the Iraq war, and the alleged torturing of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, to light hearted ones about golf, and his favourite contestant on American Idol.

The Lack Of An Embed

As much as I’d love to embed the video for you all to watch, Yahoo! have failed to provide an embed code, and even the permalink was hard to find.

The full interview is about 20 minutes long, so if you’re really bored, it may be worth a watch. It’s just a shame that it took Bush this long to embrace what is clearly going to become a weapon in the fight for political power.

Last week saw the unveiling of Y! Live, a lifecasting site to compete with the likes of uStream, Mogulus and Operator11. As those sites do, Y! Live enables ordinary members of the public to become broadcasters in their own bedroom, setting up a video channel, and showing whatever footage reels off from their webcams.

Then a few days ago, we saw Yahoo! acquire Maven, an online video platform which could see the company up the ante on the advertising and monetisation side on web television.

The Relaunch Of Yahoo! Video

Now the trio of Yahoo! video related goodness has happened, with the relaunch of Yahoo! Video. But has the redesign made the service any better, and will the new features help it compete with YouTube on a more level playing field?

The redesign isn’t bad, with everything still being fairly easy to navigate, and very neat and tidy, but that’s about it, functionality seems to have been the watchword, and concentrated on maybe at the expense of experimentation.

In terms of features, there are a few nice additions and improvements to take a look at. Firstly, Yahoo! Video now supports 16:9 wide screen videos, with its flash based player getting a revamp. To go with that, file size limits have now been increased to 150Mbs.

These are both nice ideas, and do offer something different, and maybe even better than market leader YouTube currently does. The larger file limit should mean higher quality videos are on offer, although at the moment, it seems to be about the same as it was before.

Fully Embeddable Player

The player is also now fully embeddable, a feature which should have been offered as standard years ago, but which now seems out of date, seeing as everyone else has been doing it for what seems like ever.

It could help Yahoo! Video grow from its current third place behind YouTube and Fox Interactive Media for traffic, as embedded videos tend to be great hooks for viewers.

Fragmented Networks

We now also get networks, which are a more basic way to browse video content by genre. Although nice in theory, the whole thing has a very fragmented feel to it, drawing content from various Yahoo! properties.

Personal profiles have also been given an update, and Yahoo! Video users can now create playlists of videos they want to watch time and again. Nice, but again, not something which hasn’t already been on offer elsewhere on the web for a long time.

Conclusions

The newly relaunched Yahoo! Video isn’t bad, and is a vast improvement on what it was before. But to me, it feels more like a company trying to catch up to its competitors rather than trying to lead from the front with innovation and ideas springing forth.

There’s a full list of all the new features, and improvements on the Y Video blog, and promises of “more cool features” to follow. Maybe now that it’s caught up, the next step is to try and take Yahoo! Video on to the next level, at least until Microsoft take over and ruin everything.

Today, they have formally announced the acquisition of Maven Networks, an online video platform which offers video hosting and distribution services, as well as a targeted video advertising system.

The deal, which has been rumoured around the blogosphere for the last fortnight, right before Microsoft threw a spanner in the works with its bid, is worth an estimated $160 million, about $10 million higher than was first thought.

A Sweet Deal For Yahoo!

Maven themselves has already raised over $30 million in funding since its launch in 2002, making this a pretty sweet deal for Yahoo!. But what exactly are they getting for their money?

Maven Networks is in essence a provider of an online video platform set up for medium to large businesses. It offers video syndication, content management, and most importantly for Yahoo!, an integrated advertising solution for online videos.

Rather than having to set up an online video or television channel, companies can use Maven’s knowledge and technology to easily, and quickly create and distribute their content on the web.

The Maven Internet TV Platform

The Maven Internet TV platform is already used by industry leaders such as CBS Sports, CNET, The Financial Times, Fox News, MediaNews Group, Ogilvy, Sony BMG, and TV Guide, making it a market leader in the field.

Yahoo! spoke of the deal in a press release:

“Yahoo! already has the largest library of professionally produced legally licensed video content and has video advertising relationships with over 75% of the top TV advertisers.”

“Yahoo! intends to invest in the growth of Maven’s overall video business, continuing to provide premium publishers with both publishing and new advertising solutions.

Yahoo! intends to expand on the Maven offering with video monetization services allowing publishers to take advantage of Yahoo!’s industry leading display sales force and advanced technologies for delivering consumers more relevant advertising experiences, both of which help them maximize their video advertising dollars.”

Advertising and Monetization

The key point seems to be the advertising and monetization details which Yahoo! are already discussing, as there’s no doubt that content creators being able to make better money from their online creations is the next big step online video is going to have to take to really become a future medium of choice.

I would suggest that more targeted ad campaigns will be a direct result of this deal, and that could could make Yahoo! a massive player in the emerging online video industry.

With start ups falling by the way side recently, it seems the big boys are now making their march toward owning a controlling a hefty portion of the Web TV market. Who’ll be next to bite?

As the terms of the contract state, DivX software will now be offered with a co-branded Yahoo Toolbar and a version of IE7 pre-configured with Yahoo tools. Yahoo!, in exchange, will now provide links to DivX and its online video service, Stage6, within the Yahoo toolbar.

Could Yahoo! possibly be a better partner for DivX than Google?

“We had worked with Google for two years and it was a good relationship. The deal we had with Yahoo was the most attractive to us at this time,” Huntington said. 

Both Companies Will Benefit

No financial details of the deal have been released, but both companies stand a chance of benefiting from this deal, especially DivX, which is quickly becoming a popular standard to encode videos in, whether viewing them on the web or sharing across the web.

“Our partnership with DivX gives Yahoo! the ability to offer our services to its growing global community, providing them with one-click access to the Yahoo! network. 

The partnership will also enable Yahoo!’s users worldwide to discover and benefit from the video technologies that DivX has to offer,” said Vish Makhijani, General Manager and Senior Vice President, Yahoo! Search.

Previously, Google’s search tools were bundled with DivX software, but this seemed less like a partnership, as I cannot recall any promotion of DivX by Google in exchange. 

Then again, Google has already established itself as the internet search leader, a spot which Yahoo! has desperately been trying to recapture. Perhaps, this is their way of directly stealing a piece Google’s pie, so to speak.

Further Integration To Follow?

Look for the new Yahoo partnered DivX tools to launch sometime in November 2007.

DivX Stage6 is no YouTube, but It looks like Yahoo! still has some tricks up their sleeve to win some of the market back from Google. The only question is, is it too late or do they still have time to make a difference? Could this mean some integration between Yahoo! Video and DivX Stage6?

Michael Garrett is a contributing author discussing the social networking world, his work can be found on Profy.com

Yahoo’s general manager for video, Mike Folgner, has stated that music videos, movie trailers, television shows and sports highlights are among the features that will be available on the new site.

One of our strategies is to put video everywhere you are on the Internet. We’re going to build a much better destination for you to access all this different content.

So far, so ambiguous. On further digging however it appears that Yahoo! has deals in place with Universal Music Group, the Associated Press and CNN which it hopes will drive traffic their way. Additionally, Yahoo’s Flickr photo-sharing site will also be adding video.

Considering Flickr’s popularity, the prospect of the service having a video upload feature added has piqued our interest; Yahoo’s other online video plans, not so much. Even so, we will be reserving judgement until the service is officially rolled out.

[Via Bloomberg]

comScore, one of the world’s leading digital entertainment surveyors, has revealed its latest Video Metrix report for May 2007, which showed that nearly 75% of all Americans watch video online during said month.

Not surprisingly, YouTube, the undisputed king of video content on the web, topped the list of places to watch, with 35 percent of users tuning in to 1.8 billion streams during the four-week period. Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 8.1 percent (680 million streams), while Yahoo! Sites earned bronze with a 4.6 percent share and 387 million streams.

Other notable statistics from comScore’s research include that online viewers watched an average of 158 minutes of streaming each; the average clip was 2.5 minutes long, and that the average online viewer consumed 63 videos during May – more than two per day.

In terms made simpler to compute, that works out as a whole lot of Paul Potts, Crazy Women Drivers and prank calling.

Via [comScore]