Google Generates Highest Volume of Referral Traffic to Online Video Content

A new research report by Brightcove and TubeMogul on Online Video & The Media Industry has found that Google generates the highest volume of referral traffic to online video content, followed by Yahoo!, Bing and Facebook.

The research report draws on three data sources: Platform data from a sample of Brightcove media customers; consumer engagement reports based on TubeMogul’s online video analytics from this aggregate data set; and results from a questionnaire sent to 104 Brightcove media customers, which include many of the most popular news and entertainment destinations on the Web.

So, this is like getting a report from one of the proverbial blind men who touches an elephant’s tusk and thinks he’s discovered a spear. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting view — because most of the other data available from comScore Video Metrix or Hitwise touch other parts of the online video market.

So, what are some of the other key findings?

Compared to search engines and other social media sites, Twitter referrals generate the highest level of consumer engagement for online video content from broadcast networks, magazine publishers and music labels. Newspaper publishers see the highest level of engagement from viewers who find their content via Yahoo!.

The top three reasons respondents gave for using online video on their websites included increasing engagement (76 percent), strengthening their brand (60 percent), and increasing site visitors (55 percent).

While 18 percent said that their online video operations were profitable and 10 percent said they were break even, 32 percent of respondents said that their online video operations were not yet profitable.

This explains why several media companies have YouTube channels as well as their own websites. This includes content providers such as CBS, BBC, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Group, Warner Music Group, NBA, The Sundance Channel and many more.

Still, it’s fascinating to read Brightcove and TubeMogul’s quarterly research report, which helps identify key industry trends and answer some questions about the state of the industry.

For example, consumers in the U.S. average more minutes of video watched per stream from broadcast networks and newspaper publishers, compared to their European counterparts, who average more minutes per stream from magazine publishers and music labels.

And viewers watched an average of 5:55 minutes of video in each session, growing by an average of 9.46 percent per month over the past six months. The number of videos watched per viewer in a given session averaged 2.82, growing at a pace of 0.34 percent per month in the same time period.

There more data in the report to mine. If you want to download a PDF version of the report, go to TubeMogul Research Reports.