We all have something called a “BS meter.” It is what starts ringing when you hear something that you know is malarkey. Mine went off today in response to a report that was published by Nielsen about video consumption. The important numbers can be found here. I’ll summarize the findings: only 1% of all watched video is online. Now, gut reaction, does that sound right? Or course not! Let’s take a look.
Most of the report (the full PDF is here), is filled with tidbits on television viewing, which is at an all time high of 153 hours a month average. I never watch TV, so I cannot comment on that, but it seems consistent with what I have heard a dozen times. Whatever. The internet numbers are what we need to focus on. That one percent breaks down into 131 million people watching three hours of video a month. Sounds innocuous enough, until you begin to question where they received their data from. Do you think that they have any data for pirated content? I bet not, and that alone makes the statistic bogus.
In 2004, P2P accounted for an astounding 60% of total internet traffic. That number was on a positive incline, but 60% is sufficient. Now, assuredly not all of that data was video; software and music piracy are a big deal, so sayeth the labels. But we do have some data to work with. Let’s look at the numbers. According to TorrentFreak, in a one week period (May 11-17), the latest episode of Lost was downloaded 1.72 million times. A Lost episode will run you a fair 40 minutes, or 66% of an hour. So, we have 1.72 X 0.66, or 1.13 million hours of video consumption using the internet. [Here we need to make a distinction: video consumed on a computer via P2P should be counted as "internet" traffic, as it is internet-based and consumed on a computer. Apple TV's et al are not discussed here.] So, over a one month period (4 weeks, about) that is another 4.5 million hours of video consumed online. If there were 131 million people watching 3 hours a month online, that is 393 million hours total. That means Lost’s numbers alone adds 1% to the total amount of online video consumed. Now add in every other TV show that is pirated, such as the remaining nine of the top ten, which comse to over 20 million hours in a month, and all of the Hollywood movies that are pirated. It’s pretty clear to see that Nielsen’s numbers are at best misleading.
This is not to say that the TV does not reign supreme, just that the internet is not getting its due. Pirates are a force unto themselves, and we need to respect their clout. And Nielsen, really? Pack up the typewriter and get online once in a while.
