The Study


At the request of ooVoo, LLC ("ooVoo"), a third-party research company conducted a blind study to determine the responses among Skype users when exposed to both ooVoo and Skype.


This study was conducted on December 10, 2009 and January 18-22, 2010, and measured Skype users' opinions on video quality (no audio), audio quality (no video), conversational quality (both video and audio), telephone sound quality and telephone conversational quality of Skype and ooVoo. The study was conducted over the course of 13 separate sessions, each with approximately 10 to 11 Skype users, with survey participants located in New York and a facilitator located in Berkeley, California. The study was designed so the users saw and heard Skype and ooVoo in comparable conditions.


Skype users were first asked what they liked best, least and would like to add to their current video conferencing system. Skype users indicated that they appreciated the new technical innovation of being able to see who they were talking to, ease of use and low cost (or no cost). Some users stated that image quality was the best feature of their currently-used video conferencing system, but complained about image freezing issues with the product and pixel interruption and dropped calls. Some Skype users also stated that they would like the ability to add more participants to video chat sessions and would like to have the ability to video chat on their cell phone.


During the blind study, only the video windows of both Skype and ooVoo were exposed side-by-side in comparable sizes as to avoid any recognition on the part of the Skype user. After the above questions were answered the study revealed that 84% of Skype users surveyed, overall preferred ooVoo to Skype. 83% of Skype users prefer ooVoo video quality over Skype video quality.


The following statements include results from all tests:

  • 68% of Skype users prefer ooVoo sound quality over Skype sound quality.
  • 68% of Skype users prefer ooVoo video chat conversational quality over Skype video chat conversational quality.
  • 80% of Skype users prefer ooVoo telephone sound quality over Skype telephone sound quality.
  • 78% prefer ooVoo telephone conversational quality over Skype conversational quality.
  • 84% of Skype users, when asked to consider all tests, prefer ooVoo over Skype.