A TV experience on your PC

This article in Technology Review is about the new Web sites that will make the experience of watching video online more like watching television. These sites rely on software that enlarges the interface so that it fills your computer screen -- from edge to edge.

This new wave of applications is led by Joost and includes VeohTV and Babelgum. Though all are in beta (testing) phases, the hype has been mounting -- leading many to claim the next big advance in online video is imminent.

''The distribution problem is starting to get solved by many different people, but the experience of online video is still very poor,'' said Veoh founder Dmitry Shapiro. ''Companies like Veoh and Joost are trying to create a more TV-like experience for viewers.''

It will be interesting to see what these sites deliver. Dick Stroud

Web video report from advertising.com

Advertising.com is a large display advertising network and online marketing services provider. It has just released some analysis looking at how consumer behaviour relates to online video viewing and video advertising response.

The report contains some interesting analysis. Unfortunately, it only breaks the age analysis into 35+ and younger than 35 years old. This is an extract from the conclusions.

Those ages 35 and older are streaming more content than those between the ages of 18 and 34 (69 percent and 31 percent, respectively). Consumers between the ages of 18 and 34, however, continue to assimilate streaming content more into their everyday media consumption habits. Sixty-nine percent of their online video streaming occurs more than once a week, while 47 percent of those ages 35 and older view streaming video multiple times a week. Older consumers are slowly adopting more streaming activities into their daily online viewing habits, with slight increases in forwarding video clips, creating user-generated content, and watching TV episodes online compared to the first half of the year.

Definitely worth downloading the full report. Dick Stroud