Downloaders reject pay model
March 23, 2009
A Knowledge Networks study offers clear evidence that streamers and downloaders of TV network video have embraced – or at least accepted – advertising as an alternative to for-pay models. Eighty per cent of network video downloaders favour watching ads in exchange for free video, up from 67 per cent in 2006; and 69 per cent of network video streamers either watch the pre-roll ads before the video or listen to those ads while doing something else on the computer.
The findings, from How People Use TV’s Web Connections, a new syndicated report from Knowledge Networks, were produced as part of The Home Technology Monitor.
Thirty-seven per cent of all Internet users say they streamed TV network video – from clips to full episodes – during the study period, and 11 per cent have watched downloaded network video in the same timeframe.
The percentage of network video streamers watching pre-roll ads has grown since 2006, from 30 per cent to 37 per cent, while incidence of watching video without pre-roll ads has dropped, from 15 per cent to 10 per cent.
“Streamers and downloaders particularly value the ability to watch full episodes of TV shows via the Internet, and both groups accept the idea of ad-supported access,” said David Tice, Vice President and director of The Home Technology Monitor². “Our research shows that downloaders are increasingly seeing advertising as an acceptable compromise for obtaining free network video; and while many streamers try to avoid preroll ads in some fashion, a surprising percentage is still exposed in one way or another.”