Written by Chris Albrecht
Posted Monday, October 15, 2007 at 12:37 PM PT

More People Watching TV Shows Online

Well, whaddya know. After we asked, earlier this month, who watches TV shows online, research firms TNS and The Conference Board have piped in with an answer: Roughly sixteen percent of American Internet households watch TV broadcasts online.

“Although online television viewing is still not a widespread phenomenon, the proportion of users has increased since 2006 and is likely to increase over time, given consumers’ love for entertainment,” said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center.

People who are watching TV online say they primarily do so because they like the convenience and the ability to avoid commercials, according to the study. Among other tidbits revealed in the data:

Of those watching TV content online, 42 percent are catching up on missed shows (up from 30 percent last year)
TV shows have replaced news as the most-watched content online.
The top methods used by people to watch TV shows are streaming and free downloads.

This data bodes well for networks putting their shows online and the advertisers who pay to reach audiences. From the research:

“Over the next few years, the growing popularity of viewing TV episodes/shows online is going to have a huge impact on the way brands and advertisers communicate with viewers,” said Shari Morwood, executive VP of technology, telecommunications and media at TNS. “If advertisers can effectively leverage the online video platform, we should see much more interactivity and emotional connection between brands and the online TV viewing audience.

Sphere Tweet This

Topic: Networks & Studios

Comments (3)

While people are watching tv online, I don’t agree what some people are saying that it will take over tv. I use sites like http://www.freetvsearch.com and can watch any episode I want of any show I want, however most people want to see the show when it airs, specially now days when most tv show episodes are based off of previous ones.

GinZoePix — 7:04 AM on October 30, 2007 Reply
Another free website to watch TV is TVonline. No download, install or invites needed. http://www.tvonline.2ya.com

Lot of webradio & webTV by categories like :

Music : MCM, MTV, TMF, Sunvibz …
News : CNN, ABC, NBC, BBC, Skynews …
Comic/Funny : LOL tv, Youtube TV, Comedy channel …
Sport : Eurosport 1 & 2, ESPN, Star games, NBA TV …
Sciences / education : NASA TV, Research channel,
Documentaries / travel : Discovery channel, Animal planet, National geo, Globetrekker …
Movie / cartoon : Cartoon network, Science fi channel, FOX, Western, Action, Mangas …
Foreigner : TF1, BFM, Al jazeera, CCTV …
Leisure / Various : Nickelodeon, Smile of a child, Game TV, Netgamming TV, Astro TV, Pocker TV …

Alizee — 8:31 AM on November 26, 2007 Reply
Nice site, it is 5 stars.
I bookmarked you. http://info5stars.blogspot.com/

Info5Stars — 5:11 PM on April 28, 2008 Reply

Linkbacks (13)

[...] NewTeeVee has more information on the [...]

News no longer most viewed content online… — 7:25 AM on October 16, 2007
[...] I TV SHOW SI VEDONO ONLINE [...]

NetTV: le news del 17.10.07 | N3TV — 4:10 PM on October 16, 2007
[...] I TV SHOW SI VEDONO ONLINE [...]

Le notizie del 17.10.07 | tommaso.tessarolo — 1:17 AM on October 17, 2007
[...] Ne parla Nee teevee [...]

Innovazioni & Mercati » Negli USA… — 3:19 AM on October 17, 2007
[...] More People Watching TV Shows Online « NewTeeVee Well, whaddya know. After we asked, earlier this month, who watches TV shows online, research firms TNS and The Conference Board have piped in with an answer: Roughly sixteen percent of American Internet households watch TV broadcasts online. [...]

modernfeed.com » Blog Archive »… — 11:51 AM on October 21, 2007
[...] Web users are totally willing to put up with a couple of ads to get premium online video, and 16 percent of U.S. Internet households already watch TV online. OK, so you might not be able to sell enough ads to justify giving away a [...]

Five Fixes for Apple’s iTunes Video… — 1:38 PM on October 24, 2007
[...] to TNS Media Intelligence. Some 16 percent of American households stream TV broadcasts online, according to TNS and the Conference Board. Forrester recently estimated that total U.S. online video advertising spending would amount to [...]

Break It Down: $120M for Streamed TV «… — 10:21 PM on November 29, 2007
[...] Looks like Horowitz’s data lines up exactly with prior research done by TNS and The Conference Board, who also found that 16 percent of American Internet households watch TV broadcasts [...]

More People Watching Full TV Shows Online… — 1:14 PM on December 6, 2007
[...] Looks like Horowitz’s data lines up exactly with prior research done by TNS and The Conference Board, who also found that 16 percent of American Internet households watch TV broadcasts [...]

More People Watching Full TV Shows Online… — 10:45 AM on December 7, 2007
[...] me who are constantly in the presence of their laptops and speedy Wi-Fi. And according to various surveys, some 16 percent of U.S. Internet users are already watching TV [...]

Essay: The End of Exclusivity « NewTeeVee — 3:26 PM on January 7, 2008
[...] Probably one of the most important benchmarks for online video, in my opinion, was the study conducted by TNS and the Conference Board last year that found 16 percent of American Internet [...]

Online TV Watching Doubles in One Year «… — 5:05 PM on September 4, 2008
[...] one of the most important benchmarks for online video, in my opinion, was the study conducted by TNS and the Conference Board last year that found 16 percent of American Internet [...]

19% of U.S. Households Watch Online TV |… — 11:29 AM on September 5, 2008
[...] information and trend watching company whose remarks on this subject were quoted on a blog at NewTeeVee.com. “If advertisers can effectively leverage the online video platform, we should see much more [...]

Our Regularly Scheduled Program Has Been… — 8:44 AM on October 24, 2008