Canadians prefer user-generated videos to TV shows on the web

The  broadcast watchdog, the CRTC, has released a comprehensive report into the state of the communications industry in Canada.

It is the first report of its kind from the regulator, covering both the broadcast and telecommunications industries, because in the words of CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein: "The convergence of technologies and industries has dramatically reshaped the communications landscape in recent years."

The lengthy document, available online or as a PDF,  has a section devoted to new media. The CRTC notes "the migration of digital broadcasting content to mobile and internet distribution platforms". This is to be expected, given that Canadian usage of the net continues to grow, with Anglophones spending 13.4 hours online per week and Francophones spending 9.8 hours.

One significant trend is the popularity of video on the web. The report found that the number of Canadians who have watched a video online has more than doubled over the past three years.

But, and this may be surprising to broadcasters offering TV shows online, user-generated content is more popular than professionally produced programs.

Looking at the stats in the report, visits to TV sites dropped slightly from 2007 to 2008, but use of what the CRTC describes as multimedia sites grew by almost 50%.

The CRTC study underlines a study released in June by the CMRC into online news habits (PDF), which suggested that we are "witnessing the rise of an increasingly visual culture", particularly among younger online users.

It seems that sites like YouTube are the destination of choice online for the generation of digital natives, who are producing and sharing their own videos on the web, rather than traditional broadcasting sites.

(Cross-post from Newslab.ca)