The numbers show Hulu and Cable TV complementing, not competing, with each other
There’s plenty of buzz around “Hulu vs. Cable TV” (just search for that phrase), but does consumer behavior back it up? So far, the numbers say no.
The Hulu vs. Cable argument centers on traffic and videos watched. But important number is the minutes spent per video – are people spending the time to watch long form on the web? In minutes per video, viewers watching Hulu content spent an average of 6.7 minutes on each video they watched. This is a far cry from the shortest TV content (the 20 minute sitcom).
There are certainly many people watching many long form video, but the numbers indicate that short form video still dominates web viewing habits (the overall web average is 2.5 minutes per video, according to comScore. At the same time, Nielsen’s three screens report shows TV watching at an all time high. True, people surf when in front of the TV, but that behavior indicates surfing to short form content while long form broadcasts through the TV.
This is of critical importance to marketing and PR professionals as we must execute programs that fit today’s audience. And what we are seeing is that the PC based web continues to be a short form video medium with TV alive and well when it comes to long form video.
Sources:
comScore – http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2756
Nielsen Three Screens report – M2 Three Screen Report
(disclosure: the author works with Web video company Dailymotion)
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There are many television networks who’s average minutes viewed are below the “20 minute sitcom” mark, and even fall below the Hulu average.
That’s the danger of taking statistics literally. The “average” viewer doesn’t watch just 6.7 minutes. The average for all viewers is 6.7 minutes.
(And what is a 20 minute sitcom, anyway?)
A fair point but the statistics – both the average length of a video and a glance at view counts online – indicate is that people watch more short form than long form when on the web. If we can get a look at Hulu’s views we’d know more.
The larger point is that when people go to a PC to watch video and move along to the next site or vide. When people go to a TV they are in a position to sit back and watch a show or movie end to end.
This may change in the future (Hulu may become a big screen content provider and the cable company focuses on pipes…or cable offers premium speeds with their own Web like offerings…we’ll see) but, from a communications strategy point of view, I’m just trying to focus on today’s behaviours.
(and 20 minutes is rought the length of a TV sitcom video on Hulu, CBS.com etc).
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