When it comes to young americans, Internet television is getting the big thumbs up and are increasingly watching TV shows via the internet rather than the traditional (old fashioned) ways.

The report by Solutions Research Group conducted with 1200 people in November 2008 shows that young Americans in the 18-34 age group 70% have indulged in some Internet TV viewing, which compares favorably with 36% who have used a hardware recorder such as TiVo to view TV content.

Interestingly, Americans who watch online TV has doubled during two years. In fact half of all US Internet users have viewed television shows online which is a massive rise from 2006, when it was only a quarter of internet users.

Hulu was also shown to be growing in popularity with 24% of online Americans now familiar with the TV show and movie website, a rise from 15% last summer. It is still a male dominated activity though. Two thirds of viewers are males average aged 33. This is however great for advertising as it is a lucrative market.

It was found that females tend to go direct to the major network’s website as 54% of network visits are female, average age 39. This could be due to the fact that popular shows with women such as ABC shows ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and ‘Desperate Housewives’ are not distributed widely other than the network’s own website.

It is of course not a surprise to see younger ‘tech savvy’ consumers doing more online including watch TV. The benefit of being able to watch what they want, wherever they want is great. Especially with the popularity of laptops and other portable devices. And anyone who has been on a train or bus will confirm that all the youngsters are staring into their ipod or other mobile device. Probably watching 24.

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