Viewers note YouTube’s ‘great evolution’

YouTube has evolved from a website dominated by user-generated video into one that half of consumers see as a place to find TV shows, according to new research.

The Google-owned video giant’s efforts to transform its fortunes by working more closely with the TV industry and professional producers appear to be paying off.

A report commissioned by UK regulator Ofcom shows that consumers see YouTube as having “evolved greatly in recent years,” and that they now feel the service has “a great many roles to play within the VoD landscape.”

The findings, compiled by Essential Research and based on a limited sample of just 92 participants in the UK, highlighted the fact that YouTube’s ‘channels’ initiative, which has only just received the company’s support in the country as part of a wider European roll-out, is yet to gain traction.

“There were only a few people within our sample who used YouTube in this way, but many claimed that it could be a good back-up option when a linear catch-up service was having technical problems,” said the report’s authors.

They noted that “most, if not all” participants were YouTube users.

Funny viral videos, music and ‘how-to’ shorts are still most people’s predominant reason for visiting the site, with a minority using it to seek out feature-length movies.

In the overall landscape, DVRs and TV VoD and catch-up services are seen as the main destination for substituting linear TV – essentially meaning Sky+, Sky Anytime, SkyGo, Virgin Media and TiVo, the BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4oD and Demand Five.

Netflix, LoveFilm and iTunes were chosen next, but Essential Research noted that “feature films are not always top of mind as TV content.”

“LoveFilm sits slightly further down the spectrum simply because iTunes and Netflix are more closely associated with American series, and therefore TV programmes,” the company said.

It added that other online video destinations such as Babelgum, Channel Flip and Fosters “each tended to feel as though they were too commercial to be considered as reasonable substitutes” for linear TV.

The researchers said that this applied to Fosters in particular. The beer brand has made a concerted push into online web comedy in the past 12 months, helping revive series such as Alan Partridge and The Fast Show.

For the full Ofcom report, click here.