In June of this year 83.1 percent of the world’s online population watched online video from a home or work computer. That represents 1.2 billion people worldwide age 15 and older undertaking this activity.
In the same month 197.5 billion videos were viewed online globally. The average viewer watched 159.4 videos in June of 2012 and it is a particularly popular past time in Asia.
A significant factor in this development has been increased broadband access and content availability which has resulted in higher online video viewing activity.
It should be noted though that these results only present part of the picture, as they relate to video watching using a PC and do not include other platforms or situations such as viewing a video in an Internet cafe, on a mobile phone or tablet. Given the impact of mobile not having this data included is a flaw. Where too are South Korean and Thailand both of which are heavy users of broadband & mobile technologies?
The key findings from the survey were:
- Vietnam has the strongest reach of online video viewers in the Asia-Pacific region
- Vietnam has the highest video viewing penetration (89.8 percent ) and Indonesia had the lowest (66.9 percent ).
- Vietnam, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and New Zealand all exceeded the global average for online video penetration
- China was the leader when it came to the largest online video market by audience size. It hads 266.2 million unique viewers (79.4 percent reach). Next was Japan with 61.5 million viewers (83.7 percent reach) followed by India with 44.6 million viewers (73.1 percent reach).
- When it came to online video engagement, the average Japanese viewer watched 242.5 videos per month, Hong Kong viewers watched 180.7 videos, Singapore 158.1 videos and Australia 151.4.
- Google sites are the top video destination in Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam thanks to its ownership of YouTube
- Facebook.com ranked as the second largest video viewing destination in the Philippines and the third ranked destination in Indonesia and Taiwan
- VEVO and Viacom Digital were in the top five video viewing destinations in both Indonesia and the Philippines
- Yahoo! Sites are big in Taiwan, ranking second. Tudou Sites come in 4th ranked and Youku Inc.5th.
- Local providers always excel in Vietnam so it is no surprise that VnExpress, Vega Corporation (Clip.vn) and Tuoi Tre Online securing places were all in the top five in the rankings.
