The telling of God’s story has always accelerated during technological advances.

I believe this is so because by their very nature communications technologies have great potential to influence people, change lives, and shape history.

The digital revolution is such a time and is presenting the Church with dramatic evangelistic opportunity.

Online digital video platforms, in particular, hold remarkable promise to impact the souls of the lost.

The question I hear most often on the subject is:

“What stats suggest that the video streaming trend may soon reach the tipping point?”

For the past few months, I have bookmarked and read dozens of posts on the subject.

Attention-getting stats

• More than half of the U.S. population and 80% of Internet users are now streaming video as part of their regular TV diet.
• In January 2011, the average time spent viewing video on PCs/laptops was 4 hours 39 minutes.
• In Q2 2011, 86% of smartphone and/or tablet users will view some form of online video while 60% of them will be watching something supplied by an OTT device in the home.
• In Q4 2010, 301 million Americans used a mobile phone; Mobile subscribers on average watched 4 hours 20 minutes of mobile video a month; Younger consumers ages 12-17 are the heaviest mobile video viewers, watching 7 hours 13 minutes of mobile video a month.
• 30% of all households have at least one television set connected to the Internet – up from 24% a year ago.
• 50% of tablet users are watching TV and film on the devices.
• Viewers Watch Video On Tablets 30% Longer Than On Desktop.
• By 2015, 65% of the US population will own a smartphone and/or tablet.

Sources: Nielsen, State of the Media; Emerging Video Services V; On-Demand TV 2011; Q2’11 US Multiscreen Video Database; Ooyala Global Video Index; Omnicom Media Group Study

In other streaming news

WSJ’s Sam Schechner reports that Apple is moving ahead with plans to build its own television that would feature wireless streaming to access shows, movies and content. The device would integrate DVR storage and iCloud, the company’s online syncing and storage service.

In recent meetings with media companies, Apple execs outlined new ways their technology could stream content from publishers, while allowing users to:

• Stream video from mobile devices to their televisions, without a set-top box.
• Watch a video on a TV set, then pick up another device, such as a smartphone, and keep watching the video on the move.
• Watch shows they have saved or purchased on two different devices, like a TV and a computer, without having to buy or record the shows twice.

Apple is just one of a number of companies rushing to re-imagine TV by making it resemble watching video on devices like computers and tablets.

Google also wants to enable users to access apps and Internet video on traditional TVs through its Google TV software. Cable, satellite and phone companies are launching their own video services for computers and tablets and reformatting their traditional interfaces to resemble them.

This is the future

With all the data coming out about online video viewing, meshed with the effort to change the definition of television and the business models around it, hopefully, Christian media leaders will see the future of TV evangelism in these advances.

For sure, it is another opportunity to adapt the message of the gospel to technology for connecting with the unreached world. In this case, without the need for a subscription to cable or satellite.

There are challenges, i.e. the discovery process of online video being too slow, and the expense of aggregating eyeballs. We believe there are solutions for these and will address them in future posts.

Rising above the noise

In this brave new, and noisy, world of digital communication, “We must not forget that the Church is the custodian of a truth so grave and urgent that its importance can not be overemphasized, and so vast and incomprehensible that even an apostle did not try to explain it; rather it burst forth from him as an astonished exclamation.
(A.W. Tozer)

Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great:
He appeared in a body,
was vindicated by the Spirit,
was seen by angels,
was preached among the nations;
was believed on in the world,
(1 Timothy 3:16)

We believe this is what the Church online is trying to say to the world. It is a privilege to play a small part in this great work with you. May God richly bless you, your families, and ministry in the New Year!