Streaming Video is a Home-Based Activity

The Center for Media Research reported on a study by Advertising.com on consumers' online video viewing habits. According to the study, the vast majority of video streaming occurs at home. A full 95% of respondents said they stream at home, compared to 4% at work and 1% at school. Nearly half (45%) of all video streaming takes place in the evening.

View a PDF of the entire study at Advertising.com.

These findings are a little surprising in a couple of ways. First, most internet use has typically taken place at work, even for activities such as shopping and personal email. Video is not following that same pattern. Second, the percentage of video activity at home indicates just how standard broadband access in the home has become. As recently as 2000, broadband penetration in homes was under 5 percent. Current estimates run in the 45-50% range, an extremely fast adoption rate by U.S. consumers. As the U.S. Commerce Department famously reported in 1995, it took radio 38 years to build an audience of 50 million listeners. Broadband access has been adopted by over 100 million total users in less than 10 years.