Streaming media showed strong growth in 2003, with total video streams up by 104 percent to 7.8 billion and aggregate tuning hours for Internet music radio 53 percent higher when compared to 2002. Approximately 78 percent of the video streams served were viewed at broadband rates, according to a new report published by AccuStream iMedia Research.
The report—Streaming Media 2003: Brand, User and Audience Share Analysis—provides detailed market analysis of the year in streaming media, with extensive data by audience type, daypart, content category, bit rate, site, network, aggregator, and includes media consumption patterns of high-speed users, forecasts and historical comparisons.
For example, broadband streams viewed by a unique user per month rose to 10.2 in 2003 compared to 6.9 in 2002, a 47.8 percent increase. The increase in residential broadband users, combined with an already media savvy group of high-speed users at work, plus better premium content and more sophisticated branded media players helped power robust growth.
In terms of content popularity, music videos captured a 33 percent viewing share, followed by news at 28 percent and sports at 17 percent. The top 10 streaming video sites averaged more than 400 million streams per month alone in 2003, an all-time high.
Following a year of contraction in 2002, Internet music radio, represented in large part by brands such as AOL, Yahoo, MusicMatch and Real Networks not only grew the size of the market, but also captured a dominant share of tuning hours. For more information, visit: www.accustreamresearch.com.
