The internet continues to shape our viewing habits, with around 2.7 million Australians aged 14 and above “streaming video clips or television programs” last year, according to a report by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. This figure is up 125 percent on the year before, making it the report’s fastest growing online activity and mirroring the global boom in online video traffic.
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Watching video is becoming one of Australia’s favourite online activities, alongside social networking. In comparison, only 2.3 million Australians aged 14 and over went online to make VoIP calls in December 2010, 2.3 million to use instant messaging and 2.2 million to make online purchases.
Younger Australians are also getting their video fix online, according to separate Nielsen Online figures covering people aged 2 and above. Around 5.5 million Australians accessed one or more online video distribution sites in December 2010. YouTube is still by far Australia’s online video destination of choice, with more than 5.3 million viewers. Google Video came in a distant second at 894,000 viewers. These figures make YouTube one of Australia’s most visited websites, ahead of online shopping sites eBay (4.2 million) and Amazon (1.7 million).
ABC's iView is still one of the most popular online video sites
Other video services popular with Australians include Vimeo, the ABC’s iView, Metacafe, Dailymotion, NineMSN Video, Bigpond Movies and Bing Videos. Online news sites also attracted an estimated 6.2 million home internet users during December 2010.
Around 18 percent of Australians aged 14 and above are interested in accessing the internet from their televisions, according to Roy Morgan Single Source figures. Meanwhile 12 percent are interested in recording TV via the internet, while 14 percent are interested in making video calls directly via their televisions.
With downloads increasing, Australians are upgrading to faster internet services. Last year 46 per cent of household internet connections offered an advertised maximum download speed of 8Mbps or more, up from 30 percent the year before. Meanwhile subscribers downloaded an average of 6.26 GB per month at the end of 2010, up 30 percent on the year before.
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