New Pew Research Center Report Claims Online Video Viewing Has Nearly Doubled Since 2006

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project released a report Wednesday that details how rapidly usage of online video services has grown over the past few years. According to the report:

• The audience for video-sharing sites such as YouTube continues to grow rapidly across all demographic groups, far outpacing adoption rates for most other Internet activities. 62% of all adult Internet users say they have now watched video on such sites, compared to 33% in December, 2006; and 89% of Internet users aged 18-29 say that they have done so.
• 36% of Internet users aged 18-29, and 19% of all adult Internet users, say that they watch video on video-sharing sites on a typical day. In 2006, only 8% of adult Internet users reported doing so. "Over time, online video has become more deeply integrated into daily life, and has started to move into the spaces that are typically reserved for traditional television viewing," the report editorializes.
• 69% of the 63% of US adults who now have a broadband connection say they watch video on video-sharing sites and 23% say they do so on a typical day.
• Online viewership of professionally produced video content (e.g., on sites such as Hulu) is also increasing rapidly, with 35% of Internet users now saying that they have watched a TV show or movie online. Back in 2007, only 16% of Internet users said they had watched or downloaded movies or TV shows.
• More and more Internet users are watching online video content on TV sets rather than on computers: among those who watch TV shows or movies online, 23% say they have connected their computer to a TV set so that they could watch online video in lean-back/10-foot mode. This, Pew says, amounts to roughly 8% of all Internet users. An earlier report from the organization found that 22% of US adults had cut back their pay-TV service over the past year and that "those who have canceled or cut back on cable and TV services are more likely to have 'rerouted' their online video viewing to their television screen." The earlier report added that "among this economizing group...32% have connected their computer to their TV screen to watch Internet video."

According to the Pew Research Center, the report's findings, which come from an April, 2009 survey, "illustrate the pervasiveness of online video and mark an important moment in the evolution of America's television and movie viewing habits." The organization points out that usage of video-sharing sites "currently outranks many other headline-snatching Internet pastimes among American adults": for example, it says, watching videos on sites like YouTube is more prevalent than using social networking sites (46% of adult Internet users are active on such sites), downloading podcasts (19%), or using microblogging services such as Twitter (11%).