Hank [BS/MSEE,
MSM $$$, Ph.D. Mgmt] teaches 
Nielsen/NetRatings recently published the list of the top video sites in July 2007. YouTube was visited by 55,135,000 unique hosts, and maintained the lead, while Veoh showed the strongest growth. There is strong growth in eyeballs watching video across multiple sites. Where are these eyeballs coming from, what were they watching/doing previously, and how can current and future entrepreneurs take advantage of this phenomena that is ten times better then what is currently out there?
The data in the table brings up an interesting question: Life is a zero sum game - there are only 24 hours in a day. What are people “giving up” to compensate for the time spent watching videos? How will this behavior (recall 14-22 age group of males are the heavy-half in watching online videos) affect school performance, and impact the direction of new business startups in the future?
I don’t understand why so many people watch these videos. Most of them are a waste of time. It really bugs me how some people can go on youtube and watch videos for hours and hours. I can think of a million better things to do with that time. Like figure out whats so attractive about it and how I can make money off it…
I think that most people watch these videos for entertainment. Also a lot of people view
videos on here because they missed something that was on tv or happened somewhere and many
of these videos are on video sites. People are giving up their own time to watch the videos
and if they don’t have good time management skills than this can hurt their preformances in
other areas. These sites are a very good way to easily show videos to groups of people. New
businesses could put videos on these sites to advertise their firm or product for free so that
could be an effective way to use you tube or other similar sites.
I’ll admit I have watched a couple of youtube videos, but only because the creators of the videos went to my high school. They must have had a ton of time on their hands because they made 5 or 6 music videos and they were actually pretty entertaining. That’s all they were though, entertaining. I think on-line homework assignments are the hardest to complete because there are so many distractions like videos on youtube. I don’t like watching random videos of people of don’t know, so luckily I’m not addicted to the site, but I can see where that would be a problem for those that choose to watch a lot of videos. One day my brother had dug up a youtube video of a kid getting in a fight on a basketball court. I don’t even want to know how long it took him to find it. Personally, I do not have the time to watch these videos or look for them, but many people sacrifice other obligations to watch them. I’m not sure how well that goes over in class when the teacher asks where their homework is and they say, oh I didn’t get it done because I was watching youtube videos, and if it does happen to get done it usually takes twice the amount of time it should have. Businesses should take advantage of this by paying to insert pop-ups or have an advertisement running down the side. It would especially make sense for those businesses that are internet-related and could be just a click away.
Since the YouTube phenom appeared I’ve felt left out. Like you said, “there are only 24 hours in a day” and I try not to WASTE any of them. I think that’s part of the reason these sites are surviving. People’s wants, needs, desires, hobbies, values and entertainment options are changing and somehow YouTube is creating its place in society.
Although I don’t value the site enough to make it my browser homepage, or add multiple video links through facebook, I do occasionally desire a laugh or two and take up a friend’s advice and “check out so and so’s video on YouTube.” It then takes on a contagious characteristic as I continue clicking the genius ‘related videos’ section. Then, after about 30 mins, 45 mins, an hour, I realize I have just sacrificed my time for what? Entertainment?
Who knows! The subconscious decisions the site causes people to make and the effects of the decisions, which go unnoticed, definitely create a business problem somebody’s going to have to address. For me excessive YouTube watching is more accidental than intentional so when they can start to give me reasons that cause me to deliberately visit the site, maybe I will become a more predictable/reliable consumer. As of now, when the movie is over and the credits are rolling, people start to get up and leave the theatre. If they want audiences to stay longer there’s gotta be incentives beyond the instant gratifications that occurs when one overcomes boredom. Or does there…
Ha ha! I feel for you Ashley! I feel that you tube is a very good video sharing site BUT I don’t visit the site looking for random clips because the horrible memories of me clicking “Related Videos” springs to my mind! All are very entertaining though some are educational. Look up “lock picking” and you will find a good number of videos explaining just that. I feel that You Tube is a video store and if its a video, its on You Tube! I will display my ads and/or other videos related to my business linking to You Tube since it is free and is hugely popular!
BUT I’m not an addict…
I have done my share of video searching on You Tube, but like the previous bloggers, I try not to spend a whole lot of time there. I don’t just browse the videos–I look for something specific (like my boyfriend’s friend’s band playing at a talent show) and then leave. I don’t think it’s so much the quality of the video content that’s attracting so many people, but rather the concept that the videos are free to watch and they’re RIGHT THERE. If this concept can be applied to something educational, for example, it could be lucrative.
I am in a student group called SIGGRAPH (Special Interest Group for Graphics) and last year, we held a tutorial in Flash as one of our activities. There was a lot of positive response from this and one of the professors in Computer Graphics Technology got an idea. He wanted to create a databank of tutorials where students could go and watch various tutorials that would help them with projects in their classes. He basically wanted to create a video archive of educational tools using the same concept as You Tube–videos that are free to watch. As of May, he was close to testing, but I haven’t heard whether it’s up and running yet. This is an example of someone who has taken the phenomenal response to You Tube and used that for something positive.
Great example Katie, although not Rocket Science by any means!
I never really watched youtube that much until my friends got me on it, but I have always been a Metacafe and Gofish junkie. I mostly watch banned commercials and W. Bush’s bloopers, Im not a fan of random stuff. I watch the vids for entertainment, which most people probably do, and when Im bored by myself.
I can’t believe how many people are devoting their lives to watching pointless videos on the internet. I have never spent so much time on a computer in my life before I came to Purdue. I would never spend more of my life doing something online more than I have to. I think that people are spending time on the computer instead of going out and being social. I have heard countless people say Oh I think I’m just going to stay in tonight, I have some stuff to do on the computer. Or I go to their house and they want to watch a half hours worth of youtube videos before you can pry them away from their computer. Im sure this leaves a ton of opportunities for entrepreneurs, I personally may use it to advertise rather than make a site for videos.
I really don’t understand what the interest or pull is in these videos, I mean yes they can be funny if you need the occcasional good laugh but I mean where are all the viewers coming from? This goes to show you that Americans waste time being unproductive and better themselves as individuals that should be preparing themselves for the real world especially the ones that are out of high school and watching these videos. I never have been much a fan of the internet except for using it for researching purposes and everything. This is just a waste of time to watch those videos.
I agree that the vast majority of what is on youtube is a waste of time,
but you really can’t escape. Lately, it seems that every “watch this” link
is a link to a youtube video page. The other day, I was searching for
lyrics to a song. There was a “play clip” link that directly to youtube
and played the full music video. The volume and range of the site is amazing.