Since the relaunch of its website last October, CNN has announced a huge increase in the number of people viewing its videos online, the Guardian reports.Part of the reason for revamping the site was to enable more video content - resulting in a 250% rise in the number of video watches.
Closer to home, it's a move that's been mirrored by the website of stv - Scottish television. As well as the regular news headlines page, there is now the option to go to a video only section. Currently still in beta, the broadcasters are offering a service very similar to YouTube's video sharing site which displays all the news stories, blogs and sports reports but without any bulky text getting in the way.
The stats come as no surprise to anyone who's been following the success of YouTube or the arguments about the modern generation's short attention span. When watching a film becomes more enticing than reading a book, or Twenty20 cricket gets considered as a threat to test matches, it's no wonder people tire of reading a few hundred words when they could simply sit and watch a video.
May saw the biggest collection of video watchers on CNN's international site with around 116.7million videos streams occurring during the month - big stories at the time were the Chinese earthquake in Sichuan and demonstrations in Myanmar.
The videos are free to watch - with no subscription or log in required - but each contains an ad to help cover costs. According to the Guardian, International Senior Vice President of Ad Sales, Max Raven, said: "Seventy to 80 per cent of our TV advertising clients are now requesting a web element to their campaign and of these half have an online video component.
"The popularity of video pre-roll is growing as agencies become more receptive to using the technique to reach audiences. Many clients are using our ability to geo-target online advertising to extend their brand reach from television to online, where they can target audiences more specifically."
As well as their online service, CNN offers videos for mobiles and, of course, their TV service. In June this year CNN claimed 8.9million unique users online as well as 1.3million watching on their phones. Around 220million worldwide have access to CNN on their televisions.
