New York: Only one in five online video viewers has watched or downloaded a full-length movie or television show, according to a new AP-AOL Video poll.
Overall, more than half of Internet users have watched or downloaded video.
News clips were the most popular, seen by 72 per cent of online video viewers, followed by short movie and TV clips, music videos, sports highlights and user-generated amateur videos.
The poll's findings come as major Hollywood studios and television networks are increasingly making their old and current programs available online - free with commercials, or for $1.99 an episode through services like Apple Computer Inc's iTunes Music Store and Google Inc.'s video store.
AOL announced deals with four studios last month to offer programs through its new video portal.
''Rome wasn't built in a day,'' said Benjamin Feingold, president of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, which is selling programs and giving away ad-supported shows through AOL. ''A lot of progress has been made in terms of the quality of video and audio on the Website. It's not the same as broadcast or DVD, but it's improving.''
Kevin Conroy, executive vice president for AOL, said its users have been watching longer and longer clips as more programs become available - starting with music videos, moving to television and now adding movies. Viewership should improve, he said, as more portable gadgets and other devices support Internet video.
For now, full-length programs are good for frequent travelers who like to watch movies on laptops and for television fans who might have missed an episode of a serial drama like ''Lost,'' said Rob Enderle, an industry analyst with the Enderle Group. Few PCs these days are hooked up to television sets, he said, making longer programs less of a draw.
Enderle and other analysts consider online video key to AOL's ability to increase traffic to ad-supported sites and offset declines in revenues expected as the company drops subscription fees for millions of high-speed customers. Last month, AOL launched a video portal it envisions as a television guide for video clips from around the Internet, including those at rival sites.
The major networks have free and premium subscription offerings on their sites, while ABC and NBC are also selling news clips through iTunes.
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The new survey found that relatively few - 7 per cent of video users - have paid to watch any video online. Nearly three-quarters of online video users prefer free videos with ads.
You won't find Vanita Butler sitting in front of her computer watching a full-length movie or television show, even though she's an avid viewer of video on the Internet.
''It's a little bit more of an intimate environment,'' Butler said of watching television. ''We can sit and do it together.''
Cheryl Landers, 50, a retail manager in Dedham, Mass., said she finds amateur clips funny and entertaining, but with two foster kids, she can never spare more than five minutes at a time, let alone a whole hour to watch an entire television episode. She said she usually has the TV on as background noise.
''I'm pretty much against paying for stuff on the Internet,'' said P.J. Park, 25, of Mount Rainier, Md.
Men and younger people were more likely to have watched online video, although one in five Internet users 65 and older and nearly half of all online women have.
Joyce Wade, 66, of Dover, Del., said she likes the fact that she can watch news clips from the British Broadcasting Corp. and avoid watching ''the same thing over and over again'' on TV.
Troy Richards, a businessman from Scottsdale, Ariz., likes the control the Internet offers.
''I don't like to watch the news because it's depressing, so I just go on the computer and pick the stories I want to see,'' Richards said.
He also likes to watch Arizona Diamondbacks games online when he is at his summer home in San Diego.
''The quality is not nearly as good, but it gets the job done,'' he said.
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