Office Lunch, With a Side of YouTube

Byte is meeting bite in offices around the country as workers opt to stay in during their lunch breaks to watch web videos, the New York Times says. Websites are eating up the “video snacking” trend, developing net-exclusive content that’s targeted at the lunch crowd, and workers are nibbling on short clips from sources such as Yahoo! and local TV stations.

It’s “a good excuse to stay at my desk during lunch,” said one viewer. An AOL executive quipped, “Based on the traffic I’m seeing, our nation’s productivity is in question.” Video snacking won’t doom the new year’s diet resolutions, but it is making advertisers rich: Marketers say consumers are up to 30% more likely to buy products during lunch than at other times. (More video snacking stories.)