Video content increases consumers’ online activity: ACMA

Video content is increasing the online activity of Australian consumers according to a new report that suggests start-ups need to ramp up multimedia efforts.

A report by the Australian Communications and Media Authority revealed that Australian internet users downloaded an average of 18.8 gigabytes of data per user during the 2010 December quarter, which is equivalent to 120 hours streaming of video content online.

In the 2009 December quarter that figure was 14.6 gigabytes per user.

ACMA chairperson Chris Chapman said the surge was partly due to increased downloading of video content.

The report reveals that 5.5 million Australians accessed video streaming sites such as YouTube and Google Video from home during December 2010, compared to 5.1 million in March 2010.

According to research company Nielsen Online, YouTube ranks as the fourth most popular website in Australia, with Google number one.

Nielsen research revealed that almost three-quarters of Australian businesses are dedicating at least 10% of their budgets to social media marketing, with YouTube forming an increasingly important part of the mix.

Marketing consultant Farid Alhadi, who specializes in YouTube marketing, says no marketing strategy is complete without a multimedia presence.

“YouTube videos are as much a key component in having a comprehensive online marketing presence as having a main website or social media channels,” he says.

Alhadi encourages YouTube marketers to take advantage of social networks as a way of promoting their content and believes the best time to launch a video is on Friday or Sunday during lunch or after work

“Viral content is usually gut-busting comedy or captures something absolutely amazing and rare to see. Another great way to get a lot of views is ‘how to’ videos – answering a common question with a brief instructional video,” he says.

There has been a sizeable increase in the number of Australians accessing video streaming sites and the ACMA report reveals that it is not the main attraction for getting online.

The report identifies e-commerce sites such as eBay, along with social networking sites, as the main incentives.

Video streaming sites are accessed by 5.5 million Australians at home, 8.4 million access social networking sites and 7.4 million access retail and auction sites.

“These increases reflect the ongoing digital boom in online social and economic activity,” Chapman says. “More and more Australians are going online to do their shopping, banking and social networking.”

eBay leads the way as the most visited e-commerce site in Australia, attracting 4.24 million people in December 2010. Amazon is second most popular site, attracting 1.69 million people, followed by The Shopping Network, GetPrice and Lasoo.com.au.

Rounding out the top 10 are Big W, JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman, Myshopping.com.au and Gumtree, with DealsDirect.com.au narrowly missing out on a top 10 place.

The growth of e-commerce is reflected in recent ABS data which reveals that nearly $143 billion in online orders were received by Australian businesses during 2009–10, a 15% increase over the 2008–09 period.