Thoroughly bad research on the CBC this morning!

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/03/13/comscore-video.html?Authorized=1&AuthenticationKey=2_25_febf6be6-7f8f-44a4-892e-26c018c187e7.pakgaihmohgcjj

A thoroughly stupid article in the CBC news this morning. One day reporters might figure out that they should think a little befofre loudly proclaiming "Canadians Glued to You Tube, Study Finds".

Looking at the article, the main premise presented by Comscore Media Metrix Canada is that because their research shows that 88% of Canadians who went online in January viewed media content, and that 3.1 billion videos were viewed, that means Canadians are addicted to online video content.

Pure rubbish, and a huge misuse of market resrach.

First - it's virtually impossible to go online and NOT watch a video. They are everywhere, and embedded into most popular sites - Amazon, CNN, just about every media site, online ads, search engines - just about everywhere. That means nothing at all.

What exactly does 'watch a video online' mean? Does it mean it happened to pop up on a site and it couldn't be avoided? Was it actively viewed and/or sought, or was it inadvertently viewed? How long was spent watching videos actively? Was the video content specifically what was sought or was it part of a broader activity? Is video an integral part of the online experience or a peripheral one? Does online video content drive online behavior, supplement it, or have little impact on the experience?

Those are the key questions.

The assertion in the article that YouTube accounts for half the online video viewing, and that therefore Canadians are "glued" to YouTube, is just outright laughable. YouTube videos are linked and embedded in millions of sites, as YouTube has essentially become a platform.

I would imagine that 88% of Canadians encountered a toilet in the month of January too. That hardly means the CBC should trumpet a headline that Canadians are glued to their toilets.