Nielsen

Olympics online videos ratings surge

Pete Wylie — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:41:08 -0400

NBC has seen encouraging results for its online video coverage of the 2008 Olympic Games, according to Nielsen Online figures released Monday. On Friday, Aug. 8, 436,000 unique U.S. viewers accessed video coverage of the opening ceremonies and the few sports that began competition prior to the festivities. Traffic almost doubled the next day, as nearly 900,000 viewers took in video coverage of the first full day of competition.

Despite some problems with load speeds, initial lag on longer videos and network embargoes of some content, the online presentation of the Olympics appears to be a relatively seamless success so far for NBC, not to mention Microsoft's Silverlight video technology and Limelight Networks' content delivery service.

NBC intends to carry more than 2,000 hours of online video to supplement its live broadcast coverage of the Beijing games. Advertisers and Olympic sponsors are watching closely to see if online coverage will attract and keep fans of sports that don't make it to direct broadcast.

For more:
- Nielsen reports top ten Olympic websites and complete NBC Olympic video stats

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Viewing Army of the Young

Doug Mohney — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:46:06 -0400

Nielsen Online has announced that kids consume more streams than those over 18, and spent more time watching online video from home in April. It's a finding that will put another shiver down the spine of broadcast TV executives.

According to the Nielsen data, kids 2-11 viewed an average of 51 streams and 118 minutes of online video per person during the month while teens 12-17 viewed an average of 74 streams and 132 minutes of online video. Elderly over the age of 18 viewed an average of 44 streams and 99 minutes of online video.

Disney Records lead online video destinations among kids 2-11 when ranked by unique viewer composition (50 percent), with EverythingGirl.com and MyePets following (48 percent each). Stickam was the top online video destination among teens 12-17 with 44 percent unique viewers, followed by Buzznet.com and Atlantic Records with 43 percent each.

Bottom line: the web provides another platform for kids and teens to pursue their interest in TV shows, toys, movies and music, a fact that will make some companies happy and public interest groups concerned.

For more:
- Nielsen Online's Kids Online Video Viewing report

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Counting Views and Dollars

Doug Mohney — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:27:24 -0400

If you want to make money in online video, you have to know who is watching it, as well as how they are watching it and when. With U.S. Internet users viewing more than 10 billion online videos in February according to ComScore’s Video Metrix Service marketers want to be able to measure an ad’s effectiveness. Advertisers put $554 million on the table for online video promotions in 2007.

Video popularity might soar for a number of reasons; it might be linked to a popular blog or get embedded into a social-networking profile and make the rounds among users. Tracking tools can help an advertiser figure out if the video is reaching a desired demographic and if it is, whether they should spend ad dollars around it. Online publishers, advertising agencies and video creators of all stripes are starting to tap into measurement tools to figure out what’s hot where.

Established media-tracking companies, such as Nielsen and ComScore have launched tools to track online video popularity. YouTube has its own measurement tool and there are also a half-dozen startups that have designed their own systems to track how and where videos are watched and shared as they travel along the Internet.

Of course, there is the tricky little problem that there are lots of systems for measuring online video success, so marketers have to compare several types of measurements and weight the value of those measurements against each other before making any determinations as to the best solution. It’s going to take a while for the industry to settle on a standardized set of measurements.

For more:
- Washington Post video viewing tracking story

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