CANADIANS SLOWLY TUNING IN ONLINE

February 12, 2009   |   By Chris Powell

Canadians are increasingly putting the “net” in network TV viewing.
Broadcaster websites such as CTV.ca, GlobalTV.com and CBC.ca are playing a growing role in the TV viewing habits of Canadians, according to new data from Solutions Research Group’s ongoing Fast Forward study. The study, based on interviews with 1,000 online Canadians conducted in November, found that 13% of visitors to GlobalTV.com said their primary reason for visiting the site is to watch a show online, compared with 9% of visitors to CTV.ca and 6% of visitors to CBC.ca.

The study found that 41% of respondents have watched a TV show online, with about half of those considered regular online viewers. Online viewing of short video clips is “nearly universal,” with more than 70% of online Canadians now watching short clips or streaming video content on a regular basis.
Three in five online Canadians also agreed with the statement “soon all TV shows will be available for viewing on the Internet.”

Advertisers, too, are beginning to recognize the role of the Internet in TV viewing. McDonald’s and Unilever’s Dove recently began sponsoring streaming content on CTV.ca (Lost and Grey’s Anatomy respectively), while on GlobalTV.com, advertisers including Research in Motion and Grand & Toy have attached advertising to content around The Office.

According to SRG president Kaan Yigit, web viewing enables broadcasters to repatriate some of the ad viewing that may be lost via PVR.

“When a consumer time-shifts with a PVR, the broadcaster has no control over that content and at least half the ads are skipped over,” said Yigit. “With online delivery of their TV shows, they have more control over the experience, the advertising environment, pre-rolls or sponsorships.”

Online viewing is considerably more ingrained with U.S. consumers however. The SRG study found that 31% of all visits to ABC.com, the U.S. market leader, are to watch streaming content.

Aside from YouTube and broadcaster websites, top-of-mind destinations for video content include Google, Facebook, Yahoo, MSN and MySpace. According to SRG, the data suggests that “the boundaries between TV/video brands, aggregators and social brands... are blurring.”

The study also found that 32% of Canadian households now own an HD-capable set and that adoption of the HD set-top box has also increased. While a “significant number” of households continue to operate their HD sets without an HD box (about 1.5 million) the gap has closed.

Meanwhile, PVR penetration is growing gradually in Canada, and remains roughly half that of the U.S.—13% of Canadian households versus 25% in the U.S. Furthermore, 12% of digital cable subscribers use video-on-demand on a weekly basis, a level that SRG said has been “relatively flat” for several quarters.

The study also noted that the mobile platform has been developing steadily, particularly since the introduction of the iPhone. While talking accounted for 90% of all wireless device use in 2006, that number was down to 77% in the most recent study. The balance is now taken up by texting/e-mail and rich-media applications. Canadians are also increasingly using their wireless device at home—56% now versus 48% two years ago. Smartphone penetration now stands at 16%.

Originally published in Marketing Magazine, February 2009