The total number of online video viewers will grow by more than two-thirds to 941 million in 2013, from 563 million in 2008, according to the latest market study by ABI Research.
The 2013 estimate represents just over one-half of the 1.8 billion consumers expected to use the Internet that year.
Although online video viewing is growing among all Internet users worldwide, viewing varies greatly from country to country.
More than three-quarters of consumers in Australia, Germany, India, Japan, the UK and the U.S. market surveyed in Q3 2008 said they watched video on their PCs -- outpacing viewership for the world as a whole.
Online video viewing has increased dramatically during 2008. In contrast, a look back at online video viewership in a wide range of countries from a study conducted in 2007 revealed relatively low usage.
That study, by the USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future and the World Internet Project (WIP), was not made public until November 2008.
It is surprising to note that back in 2007, according to the WIP study, a majority of Internet users in eight out of the 13 countries surveyed (including the U.S.) said they never downloaded or watched online video.
According to the eMarketer global assessment, with digital media adoption growing so quickly, and varying by country, marketers should not make any assumptions about a given nation's online video viewing habits based on global averages.
In my opinion, one safe assumption is that over-the-top (OTT) video adoption will continue to grow exponentially during 2009. The shift away from traditional broadcast media, and linear TV programs, will be a rapidly evolving storyline during the coming year.