Viewing television content online rises in popularity

Twelve months ago just 25 percent of U.S. Internet users said they had watched a favorite television show online. Solutions Research Group’s latest study has found that figure to have risen significantly.

by Helen Leggatt

Nearly 80 million Internet users in the U.S., or 43 percent of the online population, watched one of their favorite television shows online as of November 2007*, a significant rise from 2006’s 25 percent.

Could online television viewing be more popular than video-on-demand (VOD) services? According to Solutions Research Group’s recent report, as part of their Digital Life America study, it already is. Their November study found that around 20 percent of Internet users watched a television show online each week, compared to just 14 percent who watched a television show on VOD.

“VOD has movies, but either they are older than what the customer wants or more expensive than what they want to pay,” said Kaan Yigit, analyst with Solutions Research Group. “Twenty-nine percent of those with VOD say the content costs too much. Even though most big cable companies offer lots of free content, there is still a perception that it costs extra money.”

Confronted with a vast selection of content and ease of searching for preferred programming, it’s not surprising that more people are turning to the Internet, in particular sites such as ABC.com and Fox.com, for their television viewing.