More People Are Watching TV and Movies on the Web, Study Shows

by Caleb Johnson on June 14, 2009 at 08:59 AM

While most people still prefer to watch video on their televisions, a new study by Bernstein Research suggests more people than you might think are turning to the Internet for their video fix, we learned from All Things Digital.

According to the study, more than half of the U.S. population watches television programming or movies on the Web. Even more surprising, a full 46-percent of that number is made up of folks 40-years-old and above. Apparently, those generations are more Web-savvy than they are often portrayed.

Media giants might cry foul and say that these numbers only mean that folks are illegally downloading TV shows and movies. However, only 10-percent of those surveyed said they used peer-to-peer sites to watch video. The study also discovered that 35-percent of those surveyed are considering abandoning cable in the next five years because they prefer a larger programming selection. While All Things Digital estimates that number only makes up about 15-percent of the total U.S. population, the site does concede that cable companies might be starting to sweat.

For now though, folks think of Web viewing and TV viewing as separate forms of entertainment. According to the study, only 19-percent connect their PCs to their TVs when watching videos. But, with TV manufacturers and online content providers scrambling to appetizingly integrate those two forms, we don't count on that number remaining that low for too long. [From: All Things Digital]

Tags: internet, internet tv, InternetTv, movies, television

Comments

Chris B.Jun 14th 2009 7:54PM

Neutral

Yes, I have watched a movie and an episode of a TV show on my computer, bit I prefer old fashioned TV (time shifted via TiVo) and yes, I am considering abandoning cable for a larger program selection, but I would abandon cable for satellite. These would put me into the 50% cited in the article but the article does not state these people are watching TV via computer exclusively. And in have never downloaded a movie or show via peer to peer, I tried it but it seemed like too much of a hassle. Can we get a clarification of what the questions were on this study?

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RyanJun 14th 2009 8:55PM

Neutral

Yes, I am over 40 and I do not download anything illegally, and I do watch movies and TV on the Internet, more and more. I cancelled my cable because I got tired of high prices due to no competition, intermittant service, lousy customer support, and nothing on most of the day and night but infomercials on channel after channel that I was already PAYING FOR. So now I watch Hulu, Youtube, I have a Netflix account, the channels' own websites, and wherever I can without breaking the law. It's not as though it's difficult to do, and there are many advantages. I watch whenever I want, late at night or early morning. The commerical breaks are shorter, and sometimes you can watch a whole show without a break if you watch one longer commercial in the beginning. Of course, the Netflix is commercial-free with my paid account. It is very easy, even for us "old fogies" - though like most people my age, I've owned a PC for well over a decade and used computers since college some 25 years ago, so exactly how ignorant about them do the supposed experts think we are?

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