Companies like Hulu and TidalTV have been expanding the adoption rate of long form content online, however Frank N. Magid Associates, a research analyst, and Metacafe released a survey revealing consumer behavior and preferences in online video viewing that shows that short form content is viewed more than long form. Notably, the survey found that the top-five most popular categories of videos watched online are all short-form: comedy, music videos, videos shot and uploaded by consumers, news stories and movie previews.  Please keep in mind that this has nothing to do with revenues, it simply surveyed viewership.  Short form, user generated content, never has been and most likely never will be a legitimate business (real businesses make money and are legal).

“Online video has quickly become not only a mainstream cultural phenomena but also a powerful marketing vehicle for brands that want to reach consumers who no longer watch as much television – and even fewer TV commercials,” said Mike Vorhaus, managing director of Frank N. Magid Associates. “There’s clearly a big consumer appetite for snack-sized content, and we expect the trend towards more advertising dollars moving online – specifically to sites specializing in short-form video entertainment – to continue and accelerate in the coming months and years.”  I personally do not agree with this statement at all, I’ve spoken with several large agencies who strongly intoned that they had no desire to have their ads associated with user generated video content.

The national study, conducted by Frank N. Magid Associates’ online research division SurveysOnline.com, surveyed nearly 2,000 people between the ages of 12 and 64 with gender, age and ethnicity representations matching those of the U.S. census.

Key findings include:

• 50% of all respondents watch online video weekly.
• 11% of all respondents watch online video daily.
• 28% of those who watch online videos report watching less TV as a result.
• 19% of those who watch online videos report regularly sharing a link to a video with someone else.
• The top-five most commonly viewed types of online video content, based on respondents reporting that they watch regularly, are:
• Comedy/jokes/bloopers (37%)
• Music videos (36%)
• Videos shot and uploaded by consumers (33%)
• News stories (31%)
• Movie previews (28%)

“Short-form video is an emerging entertainment genre – distinct from online TV – that consistently proves popular with people of widely varying backgrounds and tastes, as demonstrated yet again by the Magid survey,” said Erick Hachenburg, CEO of Metacafe. “Online TV, or traditional networks distributing their shows on the Internet, is really just the same long-form programs, with the same audience, supported by the same advertisements – only the delivery platform is different. We’re excited about the new and growing opportunity short-form video entertainment presents, and we’re committed to growing our leadership in this sector.”

This study simply reveals what we all already know: people like watching short, funny videos online.  It would have been interesting to do a survey of advertising agencies and ask them what percentage of their budgets were going to UGC.