ComScore: Long Form Online Content on the Rise

As online video matures beyond viral hits such as Keyboard Cat, people are watching more broadcast-quality content on the Internet. Recently released comScore numbers confirm that long-form video content is on the rise.

In January, the average viewing time was 6.1 minutes, up from 5.8 minutes in December 2011. It’s also up over a minute from a year ago. The proliferation of connected screens and the amount of long-form content available online means that more people are watching longer.

Overall, 181 million U.S. viewers watched almost 40 billion videos, averaging 22.6 hours of online content in January. They spent the most time on Google sites, which include YouTube. Facebook video viewing fell in this report.

These numbers are also a boon for advertisers. Americans watched 5.6 billion video ads in January, with Hulu delivering 1.4 billion ad impressions, the highest of all ad properties. At 43.1 ads per viewer, Hulu also delivered the highest frequency of ads, followed by ESPN at 20 per viewer. Video ads reached 47 percent of the U.S. population an average of 38 times in January.

This data supports the findings of our recently released Video Index, which shows online viewing on tablets, smartphones and gaming consoles is on the rise.