SRG Employs Chewbacca Defense to 'WTF?' Us into Submission

In early February MarketingVOX published this study about online TV show viewing by Solutions Research Group.

As can be typical of studies, the research cited some ostentatious figure -- namely, that 80 million Americans (43 percent of the online populace) have watched a favourite show online.

The study didn't specify whether 80 million Americans watched a complete episode; just that they watched one (which could mean anything, really).

Enter Kevin Horne of Lairig Marketing.

Horne's personal cross is marketers that take hype-heavy reports at face value and use them to launch doomed and costly campaigns. So, skeptical that 80 million Americans have watched a complete online TV episode, he did some homework.

Jupiter Research finds only 10 percent of adult online consumers have watched a full-length TV episode in the past year; Horowitz pegs the figure between eight and 16 percent.

That's nowhere near the whoppin' 43 percent SRG recorded.

So he sent the company an email saying as much, and asked for elaboration on what they meant when they said 80 million Americans have watched an online TV show.

Simple enough question, right? Hey guys, did you mean 80 million Americans watched a whole episode online, or only part of one?

A response from SRG follows thus:

Hello Kevin, Thank you for your question. For context, over 70% American Internet users stream so kind of video content monthly, according to recent Nielsen or Comscore data available on their websites.

Our numbers however speak to the cumulative audiences of full-length TV shows one can access via 3 sources: 1. peer-to-peer downloads, 2. unauthorized streams (i.e., shows that end up on youtube or similar for short periods but log in substantial views before they are "pulled") as well as 3. legitimate streams via network and cable channel sites.

In the 15-29 demographic in particular, p2p consumption of TV shows is a huge but underreported phenomenon. 50% of all video content downloads were TV shows.

See http://torrentfreak.com/50-percent-bittorrent-downloads-tv-080214/

Hope this helps, Thank you.

And then our heads exploded.

Did you ever watch the South Park episode where Johnny Cochran demonstrated the Chewbacca Defense? It was a lot like that, except without the monkey. (Cranial combustion would have been funner with the monkey.)

See Kevin Horne's original post, updates included.