Fox: There is no such thing as television

Online streaming video continues to grow as viewers move from 2 minute clips, to full length shows as media distributors place content in multiple platforms, media executives said on Wednesday.

There is no such thing as Television. There is one on your laptop and one on your TV set. One you can interact with and the other you can just sit back. With the YouTube phenomenon, people are snacking more on online video content than ever before, said Hardie Tankersley, VP of online content at Fox Broadcasting.

Over 75 percent of U.S. Internet users watched a video online, averaging 3.25 hours of video per person during November 2007, according to ComScore research.

We are talking about a generation that grew up in front of a PC. They look at set top box and it looks pale in comparison to what they can get online, Josh Krane, SVP of Interactive Media at G4 Entertainment said at the Future TV Show in New York. G4 Entertainment is a video game content provider created by Comcast and Insight Communications.

In total, 138 million Americans - approximately three in four U.S Internet users - viewed online video in November. Google Sites also attracted the largest online video audience with 76.2 million unique viewers, followed by Fox Interactive Media with 46.3 million and Yahoo! Sites with 37.3 million, ComScore reported.

The shift from regular TV viewing is not restricted to online viewing. Krane noted that 18 to 30 year olds are leaving TV and moving to their video consoles, their iPhones or other smart phones and to their web browsers. I don't want to call it chasing the user, but we have to push the content to where the users are.

In a bid to keep up with users need to watch content on demand, NBC Universal and News Corp made a joint venture and created Hulu.com. The site offers full length TV shows, like popular Heroes, Prison Break and The Office to U.S. viewers.

The whole Hulu site has been an experiment for us but it seems it's the right thing to do. We want to let the content go where it wants to go, said Tankersley from Fox.

The PC has become a critical dashboard in getting content across. Both executives agreed the user wants the ability to leverage viewing power and move content around is critical to enable consumers to both share and talk about what they watching.