NPD study: More people watch Internet videos on TVs than computers

AP Photo

(CBS News) More people are watching Internet videos on their television sets, a recent study released by the NPD Group suggests.

According to the study, 45 percent of the people surveyed say that the TV is their "primary screen" for watching paid and free videos streamed over the Internet - a rise from 33 percent last year.

And the personal computer is no longer king when it comes to Web videos. Consumers who watch "over-the-top (OTT) streamed-video content" on their personal computers dropped from 48 percent to 31 percent.

The study is a sign that consumers aren't completely reliant upon cable TV for entertainment. Streaming videos online are becoming more popular as technology evolves and more content is created for the Internet.

"Streaming video has moved from the dorm room to the living room; and, as more households obtain and connect TVs to the Web, we predict increased trial and engagement for video distribution services," Russ Crupnick, NPD Group senior vice president of industry analysis, said in a press release.

Netflix is the most popular Web-to-TV video streaming service, with 40 percent of the market share. HuluPlus comes in second, with 12 percent, and Vudu is third, with 4 percent of people using the service to stream videos.

(At left, we discuss the pros and cons of using digital video streaming devices.)

If the trend persists, then questions will surely arise if Americans are trending toward cutting the cord on cable.

A study conducted by Nielson Research in July revealed 51 percent of people said they watched TV on laptops, 49 percent said they used an Apple iPad, 37 percent used a tablet computer and 42 percent said they used video-enabled smartphones.

Whether people watch on TVs or computers, it's clear that streaming video is becoming increasing popular.

For this study, NPD Group surveyed 1,200 U.S. households with broadband service. Approximately 10,000 respondents aged 13 and older participated in the semi-annual report.

[hypnotoad72]

I've seen streamed 480i video -- color bleed is horrible, images are soft - well, foreground material often is as background stuff can be blocky...

1080p streamed material is surprisingly good, but background detail can be just as blocky as well...

Never mind bandwidth limitations... to pay $60/mo forever just to rent a movie for $2 with less detail than a blu-ray player... it's still much cheaper to have dedicated media... until prices get down to sustainable levels, with managers and not the workers taking the hit since I've posted enough material time and again showing the working class having to take hits all the time.