Nielsen report: Online Video has 70% penetration but North America and Europe are behind

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Published on Thursday, 05 August 2010 20:54

Nielsen has released the "How People Watch: A Global Nielsen Consumer Report", which you can download by clicking on the link (first fill out form).
The report has several interesting key takeaways and key implications and is packed full with important and macro intelligence.

Key takeaways to have a closer look at, are:

Online Video: approximately 70% of global online consumers watch online video; but North Americans and Europeans lag in adoption. More than half of global online consumers watch online video in the workplace.

Mobile Video: is already used by 11% of global online consumers: penetration is highest in Asia-Pacific
and among consumers in their late 20s.

Tablet PCs: are expanding the definition of mobile video. Globally, 11% of online consumers already own or plan to purchase a tablet PC (such as an iPad) in the
next year.

Ad. Online Video























Having a look at the two figures concerning Online Video, penetration in Asia and Latin America is higher than North America and Europe.

[..]online consumers in Germany, Belgium, France and Denmark are all at least 50% less likely to watch online video[...]

One reason that explains the lag is the following:

In several of these lagging markets—Germany for instance— access to online video through the websites of traditional TV networks is just beginning and this introduction of premium online video content might still spur the pace of adoption.

Ad. Mobile Video
Continuing to Mobile Video, the same kind of development can be seen, from a geographical point of view.

As with online video, Europe and North America lag in mobile video adoption. While Asia-Pacific online consumers are 45% more likely to use mobile video and MEAP consumers 26% more likely, North Americans and Europeans lag by 55% and 45%, respectively.

Reasons for the slower adoption are according to Nielsen:

That is to say, slower mobile video adoption in North America and Europe may as much be attributed to the technological advancement and ubiquity of other screens in these markets as it is to the proliferation of mobile technology in more advanced mobile media markets.

Ad. Tablet PCs







 















These figures surprised me, both the higher percentages in MEAP and Latin America and the likelyhood of having or wanting a Tablet PC, and the relatively low percentages in Europe and North America and its likelyhood.

The interest in Tablet PCs will increase complexity of the video landscape which in turn has impact on consumers and their choices, marketers and media companies.
Fast adaptation of content is important to capture consumer attention alongside the continuous state of being online.

The latter is in lign with one of the key implications as mentioned on page 3 of the report:

* Consumption of video across multiple platforms is now a global phenomenon: marketers and media companies should be leveraging all opportunities to capture consumer attention.

Another key implication in the report refers to new opportunities (though it adds complexity to the portfolio of users and companies)

* If interest translates to acquisition, TVs with Internet connections will make “Over the Top” consumption a more viable option for consumers, presenting new opportunities for marketers and media companies to interact with consumers from the television screen.

On which development do you think the industry must pay attention and have a closer look?
Even if 3DTV and Tablet PCs are a niche, what do you think the influences are on cross-platform video consumption?