I sold my television over two years ago, preferring to watch all video content on my computer, personally considering the computer sufficient for my media consumption needs. Within the past 3 months I moved in with a friend who happened to own a television but without cable access; its sole purpose being for guitar hero and movies for his children.

All television episode consumption in our household is done via the Internet site Hulu.com , yet often hooked to the television’s bigger screen. Movie consumption done by us adults in the household is split approximately 50/50% between streaming and DVD (usually watched on a television even when streaming) and for the children is 100% DVD (95% watched on television and 5% on laptop, however both the 7 and 9 year old often stream small videos through YouTube).

Within the past months I have seen a couple write-ups by the KenRadio newsletter discussing the PC’s gain on television.

While TV’s place as the preeminent channel for Americans to watch video content remains safe for now, the PC is slowly encroaching on the TV’s dominance, capturing an increasing amount of screen time among those who download or stream video online, according to a new study by Ipsos Media. The percentage of video consumed on a TV among video downloaders and streamers declined from 75% in February 2007 to 70% in February 2008 – a small, yet significant drop in overall ’share of screen time’ with the growing contingent of digital video users. In addition, the percentage of total screen time captured by movie theaters also declined significantly in the past year. Streaming video online has become an activity many Americans aren’t just experimenting with, but enjoy on a regular basis. About half of all Internet users aged 12 and up have streamed a video file online in the past 30 days. The growing sophistication of home PCs, as well as the ubiquity of high-speed Internet connections in the home and outside, really facilitated the experimentation process with the digital video medium, and subsequently caused many to adopt the PC as a channel they rely on for video entertainment.

Coinciding with the drop in these more traditional channels’ share of screen time is an equally significant year-over-year gain in overall screen time for the PC, which nearly doubled its overall share (19%) with digital video consumers since early in 2007 (11%). Today, among the 52% of American’s age 12+ whom have ever streamed or downloaded a digital video file online, about one out of every five hours spent watching movies, TV shows and/or other types of videos is done so on a PC. Perhaps just as interesting as the PC’s ascent in video entertainment is the relative lack of growth in the overall share of screen time being allocated to other, more portable video devices such as portable DVD players, digital media players and mobile phones. Wright goes on to explain why growth in share of screen time with portable devices may be limited. While the number of device options are growing for consumers to access and watch their favorite video content, what isn’t necessarily changing is the location where we enjoy this video content – our homes. This, combined with the growing demand for digital video content, is why we’re seeing the shift in share of screen time away from traditional video channels to the PC right now.

Interesting write up as I fall into this category of users. In accordance with the article, most of my video and episode consumption is done in my home and even when Rob and I do decide to take a movie with us to watch while camping, it is a laptop we take rather than my portable DVD player.

It seems that a big reason for the shift to PC from television is the want for on-demand without the need of cable (and Tivo). Prior to the NBC loading its Office episodes to their network site, I gladly paid the $1.99 weekly charge through Apple to download each weekly episode. The want of on-demand and the ability to re-watch each episode was worth the minimal $1.99 charge. When NBC pulled the shows from Apple and put them on the network site, I gladly transitioned as the episodes were free, though rudely interrupted by completely annoying commercial breaks. However, the viewing on Hulu is the best of all worlds with the free episodes and seamlessly integrated advertisements. From my consumer viewpoint Hulu is:

• substantially easier to navigate than the network sites, definitely easier to find full episodes versus clips
• the ad placements are better integrated, not as intrusive and actually quite interesting (a point discussed below)
• consumer friendly due to its aggregation of partner content on one site, allowing the user to jump from different episodes and movies, simply enjoying the content rather than worrying what network produces what content.

Looking at the users who do shift to online viewing, Hulu has been able to capture a significant amount of viewers in comparison to the network landing page. Hulu (according to the numbers below) is able to hold the interest twice as long (in comparison to the network landing pages) for users seeking comedies, while users seeking drama usually revert to the network sites.

Plus, the commercials on Hulu are definitely not as intrusive and actually quite interesting, lately integrating a cyber ethics theme. For instance, one of the last advertisements I viewed showed a teenage girl highly criticizing another teenager girl in a face-to-face confrontation. The commercial then flashed to text stating if you wouldn’t criticize a person in a face-to-face scenario what makes it alright online. Another commercial focused on the idea of piracy being theft and how a user wouldn’t steal a purse or a car, so why would it then be ok to pirate music online.

The most amazing takeaway for me is I have noticed that now that Hulu has launched I watch substantially more television episodes than when I owned cable television. It just seems so easy to quickly watch an episode after a long day at work. =)

What is the feedback from you readers? What is your watching behavior? Have you checked out the network sites or Hulu?