The theme for this week must be the erosion of market share for dominant technologies. Earlier, we reported on the Firefox web browser’s steady march into Internet Explorer territory, and today NewTeeVee points to a recent study from Ipsos MediaCT that shows the PC continuing to encroach on the television’s dominating position for eyeball time when it comes to video watching. Where are you watching video? Vote in our poll below.
Ipsos MediaCT found that even though TV is still the dominant method of video consumption among those who have streamed a video online, that dominance is slipping. TV was down to 70% of video watching time from 75% last year, while “personal computer” jumped from 11% in 2007 to 19% this year. That was even more pronounced among teens. In the 12-17 age group, PC watching was 24%, while TV was down to 55% of screen time.
Though the shift toward the PC for video watching is more pronounced among the younger set, Ipsos said the trend was “relatively consistent across all age groups and genders.” Even though the study only looked at the viewing habits of those who have streamed or downloaded video content, previous Ipsos MediaCT studies have found that is a rapidly growing segment of the population.
“Today, about half of all Internet users aged 12 and up have streamed a video file online in the past 30 days,” said Adam Wright, Director at Ipsos MediaCT. “We really see these share gains in non-traditional video channels as not simply an isolated, generation-driven market effect, but rather a large macro-trend in the way consumers want their video content delivered that those in the entertainment industry should increasingly be paying attention to as we look forward to the rest of 2008 and beyond.”
Last week, 28% of ReadWriteWeb readers indicated that they prefer online TV to cable. Now we’d like to ask you where you’re watching most of your video these days? Bear in mind that a DVD watched on your television, is still video consumed via TV. (We realize this is not the same type of poll conducted by Ipsos MediaCT — though it was clearly inspired by their study.) Let us know in the comments the different places you’re watching video these days.
