Comparing online video viewership to traditional television viewership is like comparing apples to oranges, but in some instances the two video mediums are not so dissimilar. For instance, programs that are very popular on the television screen are expectedly popular online and when it comes to advertising each can positively affect one another.

Longer form ads have been a huge success online because, compared to television, they can thrive without the exuberant costs and time constraints. The success of online ad campaigns like Pepsi MAX’s “Uncle Drew” can in turn create an established audience and already popular content to fill previously untested 30-sec television spots.

The successes and performance of online video will continue be compared to television as the two media forms compete for ad dollars and an increase in eyeballs. A recent report from VideoHub shows that viewership online is reliant on the swings in viewership of the television audience, ebbing and flowing in direct correlation with seasons and time-slots. When popular shows stop running new episodes, online video viewing increases. The analytics and monetization platform gathered their information from over 3.5 billion monetized videos from the first quarter of this year.

In other important news for online video providers, VideoHub shows that ad viewing is better than most believed.  As noted in the report, approximately 88 percent of all ads streamed in the first quarter were fully visible to viewers, much stronger than statistics have indicated for display ads. Of the 3.5 billion video streams analyzed, 7 percent were partially obstructed, while viewers never saw the remaining 5 percent.

“Online video is at a crossroads, and we finally have insight into how TV and digital lines are blurring at increasing rates,” said Kelly McEttrick, Sr. Director of Platform Strategy for VideoHub. “The data we’re seeing supports recent claims that concurrent media usage continues to grow and TV is experiencing a small decrease in time spent for the first time. With this report, VideoHub is zeroing in on the interplay between the digital and traditional screens. It’s becoming less about one screen versus another, and more about an inevitability that marketers and content providers need to understand now.”