We’ve probably all had an experience of trying to view a video online only to find out it requires us to download additional software or wait forever while it “buffers.”

If you’re past 30, you might assume that the glitches mean web video isn’t yet ready for “prime time” consideration in your communications strategy. But if you are targeting engaged Americans, rest assured it’s a group that regularly jumps through hoops to be "in the know" with current web video.

During this past April, the latest figures issued by comScore show that 71 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience, or 134,471 million users, viewed online video…comScore found that viewers averaged 82 clips per month and 228 minutes of video viewing in April, versus the 63 clips and 158 minute averages recorded nearly a year earlier. A whopping 11 billion videos were consumed in the U.S.

While animal tricks on YouTube may fuel a large chunk of these statistics, mainstream media outlets like the New York Times are expanding their commitment to the genre. The result:  Nielsen reports tremendous growth in visitors to NYTimes.com (17.5 million unique views in October 2007), which now houses more than 1,000 video news reports. Vivian Schiller, former Senior VP and General Manager of NYTimes.com (recently tapped to head National Public Radio), cited popular multimedia features such as slide shows, videos and blogs as keys to this growth in a video featured on Beet TV (an excerpt of which is featured above).

PhilanthroMedia has seen some intriguing traffic for web video that we’ve produced for our clients in the past year.   Our “man on the street” interviews with foundation leaders, conducted as "live blog content" for the Council of Foundations conference, garnered more than 6,500 views.   Our client Drum Major Institute for Public Policy has garnered more than 3,600 hits for a brief video response its executive director, Andrea Batista Schlesinger, offered to a State of the Union Address.

The world of web video is still developing, and therefore in constant flux. Learning what works is a slow and often painful process. We are eager to share lessons we’ve learned on behalf of our clients that will enable you to hit the ground running.