The "lean-back" medium is now more "lean-in" than ever - thanks to a variety of technologies and people's growing desire to control their viewing experiences, on TV and online. That is among the findings of a new Knowledge Networks report, which reveals that the ways in which people learn about and ultimately decide to watch video on TV or the Internet are remarkably similar - with verbal word of mouth (in-person conversations or phone calls) scoring well above social media as a regularly used source, and TV ads and search engines also playing major roles.

The report, How People Use Video Navigation, shows that television ads are the most important source for discovering new programs and deciding what to watch on TV, with verbal word of mouth coming in second for discovery and third for decision making (behind interactive program guides).

Verbal word of mouth was also the top source for learning about and deciding to watch online videos; search engines were the second most-cited way of learning about online video.
Another similarity between viewers of TV and of streaming video is seen in the levels of "purposeful" viewing - that people go to watch with specific programs or content in mind.

Among TV viewers, almost half (44%) say they usually turn the TV on with the intent to watch a specific program; among people who use streaming video to watch full-length TV episodes or movies, the proportion of purposeful viewing is even higher - about 56%. In contrast, viewers of non-professional or amateur content using streaming video report much lower levels of purposeful viewing - just 22%.

Program Discovery and Viewing Decisions: TV vs. Online
% of viewers who report they "regularly" use source as a means of content discovery or for making decisions about what to watch at time of viewing

TV Viewers Online Viewers
------------------------- -------------------------
Discovery Decisions Discovery Decisions
of TV at time of of streaming at time of
content (%) viewing (%) content (%) viewing (%)
----------- ----------- ------------ -----------
TV ads 46% 37% 24% 19%
------ -- -- -- --
TV IPG 21 32 n/a n/a
------ -- -- --- ---
Verbal word of mouth 38 27 41 33
-------------------- -- -- -- --
Search engines n/a n/a 32 19
-------------- --- --- -- --
Social media
(family/friends) 14 8 20 11
---------------- -- -- -- --
Social media (others) 6 5 16 7
--------------------- -- -- -- --
Stories or
reviews on TV 32 24 24 14
------------- -- -- -- --
Stories or
reviews on
Internet 12 7 27 14
----------- -- -- -- --
Non-interactive
Program guide 14 21 n/a n/a
--------------- -- -- --- ---
Source: Quantitative survey of 601 KnowledgePanel members

“How People Use Video Navigation” looks at the ways people discover and decide to watch video on TV, via streaming or downloaded video, and on mobile phones, using quantitative interviews with 601 KnowledgePanel members, ages 13 to 54. The margin of error for the quantitative study is +/- 3.4% on questions asked of the total sample. The report also includes an ethnographic component, not cited in this release.


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