By Michael Cohn

NBC said more of its TV viewers were using its web site to catch up with their favorite TV series online so they wouldn’t miss the latest episodes.

A study commissioned by NBC.com and conducted by the research firm InsightExpress showed that 78 percent of the site’s NBC Rewind service users watched an episode they had missed on broadcast TV, the network said Wednesday.

NBC and other TV networks like ABC, CBS, and Fox, as well as cable channels like MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and Sci Fi, have been increasing their reliance on the web over the past year to showcase their series.

They have also shown more willingness to run more complete episodes of their series over the Internet soon after they are broadcast. That trend has been magnified as online advertising has proven to be a more viable way for the TV networks to make money, especially as the growing numbers of homes with broadband connections provide them with more of a mass audience.

Some companies have also shown more flexibility in working with online video sites like Google’s YouTube and Time Warner’s AOL Video to run their shows, or at least clips from episodes old and new.

Driving More Ad Bucks

NBC has been leveraging the web to drive more online advertising as increasing numbers of viewers shift their TV-viewing habits to video sites on the web. The network said 81 percent of the online viewers it surveyed recalled the pre-roll ads that ran before the episodes after two or more exposures.

In addition 72 percent said that NBC Rewind ads were less disruptive than traditional advertising, while over 40 percent agreed the ads were easy to remember, integrated well with the shows, and caught their attention.

Viewers are also turning to the web to watch shows they have already seen. NBC found that 26 percent of its NBC Rewind users have reviewed an episode online after first watching the broadcast on their TV sets, while 34 percent used the site’s online player to watch a show they had never before seen.

NBC also found that the demographics of its Rewind users built upon the network’s primetime audience by skewing younger, being better educated, and containing a higher proportion of males, compared to the average television and Internet audiences. “Our viewers responded strongly to the streaming video on our site,” said Jeff Gaspin, president of digital content and cross network strategy at NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, in a statement. “Contrary to conventional wisdom, consumers are ready to watch long-form entertainment on the web, and we plan on making more available.”

Expanding Web Programming

NBC Rewind runs full episodes of the NBC series Heroes, 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights, Las Vegas, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and My Name Is Earl online.

The network, owned by NBC Universal, a joint venture of General Electric and Vivendi Universal, also plans to make more episodes of its programming available for streaming this year over the service, including selected episodes of The Apprentice and Grease: You’re The One That I Want.

The site isn’t the only one capitalizing on the growing popularity of online video. Viacom’s Comedy Central has been advertising the online availability of Daily Show host Jon Stewart’s interview with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates earlier this week on the eve of the launch of Windows Vista through Comedy Central’s MotherLoad service (see Microsoft Debuts Consumer Vista).

CBS’s Innertube service has also been showcasing various series such as Survivor, NCIS,Jericho, CSI, and CSI: Miami. ABC usually advertises the online availability of Desperate Housewives at the end of each broadcast. Plus, Fox has been capitalizing on the latest season of American Idol by making clips available on its site.

Apple’s iTunes service also sells videos of episodes from series such as Lost, Desperate Housewives, and The Office that can be downloaded to Macs, PCs, and iPods.

NBC said it has seen particular success. The network claimed that usage of NBC Rewind made NBC.com the No. 1 broadcast network web site in December and the third-ranking TV site overall, behind AOL TV and MSN TV and ahead of Yahoo TV and ABC.com, according to comScore Media Metrix. Since NBC Rewind debuted in October, 6.9 million unique users have streamed nearly 42 million full-episode videos. NBC said users spent an average of 35 minutes per visit in December, the third straight month that the average number of minutes had increased. More than 60 percent of users said they always watch the full episode when viewing the shows on Rewind.

To be sure, there are some limitations with web video. Users visiting countries outside the United States have expressed frustration that their favorite shows are not always available for viewing over the web on the same sites where they are available at home.