About Viral

Where Does Online Video Stand Now?

After reading a recent AdAge white paper assembled by Michael Learmonth it’s clear that major shifts are still to come. As much as people feel they understand the landscape of the media world, there are still some big unknowns.

Here are a collection of stats and quotes pulled from the white paper that have to do with the evolving media industry. The white paper also includes a brief reference to viral videos and essentially comments on their illusive behaviour.

It’s NOT a Revolution BUT an Evolution!

What we are witnessing isn’t competition between TV and the web; it’s the merging of interactive video and TV.

Major stumbling block for web video is the inability of the biggest TV advertisers to make a direct comparison between the effectiveness of TV and the effectiveness of an equivalent buy online

Media Companies…[are] ready to distribute on the web and offer web video to marketers but they’re not ready for that to replace what’s happening on TV

Viewers in the US spent an average of 12.2 hours watching online video (November)

The average length of the videos they watched more than doubled

Advertising

Internet advertising represents $699 million of the $24 billion U.S online ad business

TV is 66 billion dollar industry (US)

Where’s the Cred Online?

The two leading metrics companies differ substantially in their reporting – Comscore and Neilsen’s videocensus

Comscore – YT owns 40% of US video market
Neilsen – YT owns 60% of US video market

The “Cool” Demographic on Television is Melting

TV’s median age reached over 50 years in 2008

The Pirate Dilemma Still Exists in Full Force

20% of 18-24 years olds said it is acceptable to download tv shows free and without ads

Does YouTube have a Viable Business Model?

10 million [is the] monthly rate at which YouTube is now monetizing its homepage – has ability to pull in 400 K a day

YouTube has indicated that it is selling ads against more than 10% of its video streams in the US” – Up 6%

YouTube serves about 1.3 billion videos per day (worldwide)

YT estimated to turn a profit in 2010 if not already

*(reason of speculation is based on the their unknown operating cost)

YouTube and Pro Content

Hulu’s relationship with pro content providers (exclusive deals) make it difficult for YT to get access to pro content.

Hulu serves up over 900 million views a month in the US (November 2009)

Total video views in the US are over 30 billion (November 2009)

Online Video CPM’s in a Nut Shell

YouTube – $15
Espn – $22
Vevo – $25-35
Hulu – $35- plus
ABC.com- $45 – Plus
CBS March Madness ON-demand – $70
Wall street Journal video – $75-100

Cheers!