14 DAY TRIAL // Cisco sponsored an online research study, concerning the number of video watchers, as well as their attitude and behavior, especially on their mobile phones. The study was made first to verify how USA consumers use online technology and its impact on their political decision making and then it was launched worldwide. So far, the participants are represented by U.S.A., urban China, Germany and Sweden.
The research study reveals that U.S. consumers watch most TV, an average of 3.8 hours per day, followed by the Germans, with 2.9 hours on average, the Swedes, with 2.1 hours and urban Chinese, with 1.8 hours per day. The U.S. also has the biggest percentage of people watching videos on their mobile phones, 23 percent to be more exact. The Americans prefer to watch professional video content (TV programs and movies) on their PCs or laptops and not simple user-created videos, with a 2.5 to 1 rate in favor of the former. In Germany things are exactly the opposite: they watch user-made videos on their PCs or laptops 2 times more often than they watch professional video content.
The urban China has the biggest number of users who watch online videos on their personal computers (97 percent), with the U.S. close behind (81 percent). Most Germans prefer to watch videos on their TV sets, even online ones (85 percent), followed by the Swedes (55 percent), the Americans (54 percent), and the Chinese (35 percent). U.S. respondents stated that they spent 36 minutes per day on average watching videos on their mobile phones. When it comes to using a PC or a laptop in order to do that, they are also ahead of the Swedes, who spend 0.7 hours per day on such activities, with 1.5 hours per day, about the same as the Germans. However, this time, the Chinese come on top, with almost 2 hours a day.
Ken Wirt, vice president of consumer marketing for Cisco, stated that, "Networked video is everywhere. People around the world of all demographics are using networked video as a communications medium to connect with the people and the content they care about most." He also said that, "Whether they are seeking entertainment, information, education or communications, people are using video to meet their needs. With medianet-enabled, networks as the platform for these consumer video experiences, service providers can enable the highest-quality visual networking experiences possible."
The director of the Center for the Digital Future, USC Annenberg School for Communication, Jeff Cole, said that, "Our research identifies the innovative ways people are choosing to communicate, discover entertainment content, and access video information in different locations on multiple devices." He also mentioned that, "Video is being added to more and more applications and showing up in more and more locations. We see a common thread that people are using video to remove global boundaries, build intimate relationships faster, and have collaborative interactions across distances."