Among U.S. households with members who regularly use the Internet, 8 percent — or 6 million households — downloaded at least one digital video file 10MB or larger from a peer-to-peer (P2P) service for free in the third quarter of 2006, according to The NPD Group.
Nearly 60 percent of video files downloaded from P2P sites were adult film content, while 20 percent were TV show content and 5 percent were mainstream movie content, the research firm said.
Paid video downloads have also made inroads with consumers. In the third quarter, 2 percent of U.S. households, or 1.2 million, with Internet access paid for a video download from an online download store.
Apple’s iTunes led the market for paid digital video downloads, with nine in 10 downloads occurring on that site, followed by Vongo with 5 percent, Movielink with 3 percent and less than 1 percent for CinemaNow. Sixty-two percent were TV program content, 24 percent were music video content and 6 percent were mainstream movie content.
For more information, visit www.npd.com.