A study on Behavioral Differences Among Online Video Viewer Segments has been released by comScore and Media Contacts, to show the three levels of users roaming the Internet video woods, their habits and mindsets and the impact that advertising might have on them. The differences, I must point out, are enormous.

The first category, the Heavy Viewers account for about 20 percent of the total users accessing online video. An approximate average of time spent eyes glued to the screen is 841 minutes per month (!), while the second category, the Moderate Viewers (the next 30 percent) average only 77 minutes. Light Viewers, the most numerous category, much to my surprise, spend only 6 minutes each.

"The difference in consumption levels was astounding. The usage differences are reminiscent of the early days of the Internet," said Jarvis Mak, VP of Research and Insight at Media Contacts, in the press release. "However, the networks' online distribution of first-run content will go a long way to bridging the gaps between heavy, moderate, and light viewers."

The difference between generations is clear when it comes to online video viewing. The lightest category proved to be the heavy TV viewers, probably due to the lack of practice with the Internet. Once a television fan, always a television fan, unless you find the same content online faster and whenever you need it. But that's not always right, if you're used to sit like a couch potato and zap through all the channels, most likely you're not going to jump up and think that you'd be better off browsing YouTube's wares.

"Capitalizing on the explosive growth of online video, especially as consumers have started exploring media and entertainment options due to the recent writers' strike, requires a deep understanding of the viewing audience driving the demand," Mak underlined. Surprisingly, despite their initial predictions that Heavy Viewers would be the most hungry for all media, only 30 percent of them turned out to spend the same amount of time watching TV, while the category mentioned above, light viewers, responded positively with 46 percent.