As controversial media headlines go, “Will online video replace TV?” isn’t quite “The Web is Dead“, but it’s up there.
A new survey by M Consulting and Ipsos Reid on Canadian online video viewing has some predicting that the emergence of online video as a dominant media and brand platform will happen much quicker than most people think. Especially in Canada.
The survey reports that 80% of all Canadians indicate watching some video content online, of which 41% report watching more online video content than they did last year.
Bill Mohri, M Consulting president, said a growing audience means a bigger business opportunity for brand marketers and Canada’s film community to produce original online video content.
“Talking to clients on both sides, I realized we didn’t have Canadian data, there was a lot of guessing,” said Mohri. “The U.S. stats misrepresent the opportunity in Canada. The fact is you need a positive viewing experience and broadband is only available to about half the U.S. But here, 85% of the population has broadband access, making us actually more predisposed to watch online video.”
Other key findings include 100% of Canadians between the ages of 18-24 watch some video content online, with 76% watching at least a few times per week. And although viewership declines with age, 68% of Canadians over the age of 55 indicate watching some video content online.
The study had 2,300 online respondents representing the general English Canadian population.
Similar media studies have been criticized in the past for using online surveys to research online usage–skewing the results by pre-filtering the respondent pool. But Mohri points potential critics to the penetration of broadband internet in Canada.
“That used to be an issue, but the reality is more than 85% of the population are online on a regular basis, either for work or personal use,” he said. “To throw it back at the naysayers, they used to do mall intercepts and ask people about shopping. The reality is a good research company knows how to eliminate bias and Ipsos Reid is a global agency with a long history of quality.”
M Consulting is hosting next week’s MergeMedia branded entertainment conference, where the full results of the survey will be revealed, along with a panel discussion on online video and a look at case studies.
