30% of Canadian women never watch online video!
So discovered Ipsos Reid in a new study co-sponsored by the New Toronto Group, looking at the online video viewing habits of Canadians, by gender and age. By contrast, only 9% of all respondents, (some 2,500 of them in all) said they never watch online video.
On the flip side, 31%* of males and 9% of females admit to viewing online video at least daily. The figures total those who watch once or more than once every day. The data become most useful when viewed by age segment:
| Online Video Viewing | At least daily | Never |
| 18-24 | 47% | 2% |
| 25-34 | 35% | 3% |
| 35-54 | 16% | 21% |
| 55+ | 8% | 32% |
There’s considerable action between at least daily and never. Remember that data like these on any ad media will display a wide range of usage. I personally don’t read magazines or newspapers “at least daily”, but that certainly does not mean that I don’t react to print advertising. The lesson here is in the mix of text, imagery and video. Lean harder in one direction or another using the learning in the data. We should also note that all data is a snapshot and that behaviour is constantly changing. When respondents were asked whether or not they were watching more online video this year than last year the results were:
All 41%
M 45%
F 36%
Again the biggest growth was in the younger segments but older segments also posted meaningful growth:
35-54 38%
55+ 30%
Lest you wonder if growth will continue, consider the informed forecast made by Cisco Systems, an industry leader in global video distribution hardware. According to Cisco, by 2014, more than 90% of available Internet bandwidth will be consumed by online video delivery. The message clearly is that if you market on this planet you need to know about online video. If you need help or advice, we’re here.
* survey sponsors say that viewing adult content was eliminated from results, which would normally be expected to impact male viewership more than female.
