Viewership of Ad-Supported Online Video Has Grown 17% This Year

Ad-supported online video viewership has grown 17 percent year-over-year, according to a new survey by marketing research firm FreeWheel.

According to the study, online videos that are 20 minutes or longer carry an average of seven ads. FreeWheel says that viewers of those long-form videos watch whole ads at a 93 percent clip.

FreeWheel also discovered that online video ad views have grown 49 percent this year. The research attributes the uptick in ad views to consumers’ growing acceptance of online video advertisements.

The study examined the growing trend of online video views on non-computer devices as well. FreeWheel found that 1.3 billion consumers view video on their smartphone, game console, or other portable device. Non-computer-based viewership made up 10 percent of all online video views for the year.

Over 60 percent of non-computer-based videos viewed came from Apple devices. Users of the iOS operating system saw more online video when compared to Android users. Consumers running an Android device only claimed 31.5 percent of non-computer online video ad views.

The lion’s share of mobile online video views goes to iOS users, despite the fact that Apple’s mobile device market share shrunk this year. According to a recent study from analysis firm IDC, Apple came in a distant second in the mobile device market for Q3 2012.

FreeWheel studied over 14 billion video views and 10.7 billion video ad views to come up with its numbers. Statistics were compiled from top cable networks, web video distributors, and ad-supported entertainment companies.

The study comes following another online video study from earlier this year. Last August, comScore reported that 184 million U.S. Internet users watched 36.9 billion online videos in July 2012. ComScore says that online video viewership for the month of July has grown every year since 2007.