About 44% Of All Online Video Viewing Is At Work: Nielsen

The rise of Internet video may be putting a dent in American workers' productivity.

Approximately 44% of all online video is being viewed in the workplace, according to Nielsen's latest quarterly "Three Screen Report" measuring media usage across TV, Internet and mobile.

All told, the average American watched 3 hours and 37 minutes of Internet video per month in the fourth quarter of 2009, up 16% from 2 hours and 53 minutes per month.

However, according to Nielsen, research shows that people watch TV shows online primarily when they miss an episode or when a TV isn't available.

"Online video is used essentially like DVR and not typically a replacement for watching TV," the company said in announcing the results Monday.

Meanwhile, nearly all video viewing still occurs on a TV: About 99% of weekly video viewing is either live or time-shifted TV, according to Nielsen. Consumer spent 34 hours, 37 minutes watching traditional TV per week in Q4, plus 2 hours, 4 minutes watching time-shifted TV. For Internet video, average time spent was 22 minutes per week, while just 4 minutes was spent watching video on a mobile phone.

In addition, Nielsen found, Americans spent 35% more time using the Internet and TV simultaneously than they did a year prior. In the fourth quarter, they spent up to 3.5 hours each month surfing the Internet and watching TV at the same time.

Nielsen's Three Screen Report for Q4 2009 is available for download here: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/3Screens_4Q09_US_rpt.pdf