According to a new Neilsen report, rich-media Web content consumption by hour and even by day varies greatly enough that the term "prime time" may be needed soon for the online space as patterns in streaming consumption continue to evolve.

Nielsen//NetRatings data show that nearly 33 million individuals surfing from home and about 17 million surfing from work accessed some form of rich-media content in September 2000.

More than one-third of all active at-home users and more than 51 percent of all at-work users consumed some form of rich or streaming media during the month. Considering the overall reliability of office networks and their higher speeds and instant access, it is clear why sites such as ON24, Bloomberg News, and Yahoo! Broadcast that offer an entire range of audio and video content have catered to the high-speed group in the workplace.

Both at-home and at-work usage varies greatly by both time of day and day of week. Friday turns out to be the biggest day for streaming consumption in the workplace. Although all the results for Monday through Friday fall within a narrow range, the last day of the workweek is the most popular for all forms of streaming. In total, 56 percent of all active workplace consumers of streaming media go online Friday to watch movie trailers or previews, get week-end performance results from Wall Street, check a live weather forecast, and so on.

Friday is also important among at-home users (it ranked second), but Saturday is the key day for at-home streaming consumption: 43 percent of all those who stream accessed rich media at home on Saturday. This result is interesting because Saturday is usually considered a low point for television viewership, especially during the summer months.

Just as streaming consumption also varies by hour of the day. Although for at-work users, all the typical U.S. workplace hours (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) show high consumption, at-work streaming consumption peaks between 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. Does this reflect an extended lunch break? More than 6.5 million people consume streaming audio, video, and mixed media each hour during this period.

Corresponding peak times exist for at-home users as well. As with most television viewing, prime time for streaming consumption at home is the evening hours. The hours when the largest percentage of the streaming population is active are between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. More than 8.7 million individuals log on from home each hour during this period to access all forms of rich-media content.

Radio and TV outlets and advertisers rank programming based on audience demographics, audience size, time of day, and so on, and similar judgments will be made for streaming content as this unique medium continues to evolve. The big question now is, what are these users watching? Further Nielsen results on just that question will be out shortly.

LATEST NEWS

Server Virtualization Breathes New Life Into DAS
MyCaption: 'Poor Man's' Mobile CRM
Microsoft Tosses New Perks to Zune Players
National Broadband: More Purpose Than Religion
Dell, nVidia Make Their Presence Known in HPC