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Drilling Down

Settling In for Longer Online Videos

Even as viewership of online video climbs, the average viewer’s behavior has changed sharply, accordingly to Nielsen Online. People who watched online video in May spent 49 percent more time on each clip than they had a year before.

Jon Gibs, Nielsen Online’s vice president for media analytics, attributed the change to a shift toward “appointment-based viewing” of TV shows or movies online, rather than casual viewing of short clips. That shift has been driven by the rise of Hulu, now the second-most-watched online video site behind YouTube, and by policy changes at YouTube that favor commercial video and longer-form amateur submissions.

While viewing time has risen, the number of people who watched at least one video online in a month increased only 13 percent from May 2008 to May 2009. Mr. Gibs said this was a sign that the online video audience, now pegged at 70 percent of online Americans, had reached a plateau. “Only people who are on slower connections or are actively avoiding those kinds of sites will not see them,” he said.

ALEX MINDLIN

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