Comments on: Hyperlinked Society: [adult swim] v. YouTube

By: eszter

eszter — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 17:29:52 +0000

This does seem like a comparison of apples and oranges to me unless I’m misunderstanding what’s being compared. Users go on YouTube (or as you note, perhaps don’t even go onto the Web site) to view one of many many many videos at any one time. In comparison, TV channels just offer one program at a time. So if you have x number of people watching a channel at one time, you know they’re all watching x content. But on YouTube, they are watching lots of different things, both in terms of the core content and any possible attached ads. So what does it mean to compare these various numbers.

By the way, Alex, I agree with you that there wasn’t as much talk about empirical evidence at the conference as would have been helpful in some cases.

By: admin

admin — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 14:54:52 +0000

FWIW, that should read “unique visitors” above, not “unique hits.”

I guess the question is whether Adult Swim pulls in a similar number of audience members (12+ million) a month. They may–it seems that most college students are well versed in their Family Guy–but given the breadth of content on YouTube, it’s drawing in more than that demographic.

In the end, the problem is that it really is comparing apples and oranges. Folks end up “on” YouTube through embeds in blogs, etc., and often for something like a two-minute clip. They make use of cable television (for now) in very different ways. For example, I doubt much of the YouTube use is as “background noise,” but I know from college campuses that this is some of Adult Swim’s use.

I guess I’m concerned that we miss the forest for the trees. The numbers tell us a lot about the next few months, but very little about the next few years. I suspect that one of the reasons Adult Swim is popular is because the shows are closer in length to what you see on YouTube.

I’d bet the killer app here is those who manage to combine existing media with the new: cf. Battlestar Gallactica.

By: Jack Wakshlag

Jack Wakshlag — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 14:37:23 +0000

The numbers you provide here are very different in that Adult Swim’s numbers are viewers for an average minute while myspace is total number of different visitors over a month. You can convert one metric to the other with enough information. When you convert adultswim numbers to monthly reach they far outstrip myspace. This does not mean it will always be so or that there not important trends here. Both, in fact, are growing spectacularly. Nevertheless, the point is each is successful but should be considered in scope and scale to other emerging communication phenomenon. We will know more, and be less subject to hype and emotion, if we first get the numbers right.