Mike Andrew Consulting

Online Video Viewing Accelerates in 2009

By mike, Feb 18 in blog with 0 comments

I’ve long been an advocate of using video as an engagement tool, video can increase the amount of time that a consumer stays on your site and that can convert into better rankings on the search engines, the longer a person stays on your site or page, the more importance search engines will give that page. So given my thoughts on this, new research from comScore has shown that Online video viewing accelerated in 2009, with 19% more people in the US viewing more videos for longer periods of time.

In December 2009, 86% of the total US online population, or 178 million people, viewed video content, compared to 150 million people in December 2008. Americans also viewed a significantly higher number of videos in 2009 compared to the prior year, due to both increased content consumption and a growing number of video ads being delivered. The average online viewer consumed 187 videos in December 2009, up 95% from 96 videos in December 2008.

Online video viewing increases in Feb 2010

US online video market

The number of videos viewed grew almost 150%, from 14.3 billion to 33.2 billion, while the duration of the average video viewed grew 28%, from 3.2 to 4.1 minutes.

Hulu Viewership Jumps in 2009
The past year saw Hulu continue its rapid ascent as one of the top video content providers, reflecting a broader shift toward consumption of more long-form, premium video content online and the increasing fragmentation of traditional TV viewing.

Hulu share increasing

In December 2009, Hulu viewers watched more than 1 billion streams for a combined 5.8 billion minutes (97 million hours), up 140% from approximately 2.3 billion combined minutes (38 million hours) in December 2008. The average Hulu viewer watched more than two hours of online video during the month.

Online Video Market Fragments

Top-ranked video site YouTube accounted for 26% of total time spent viewing video in December 2009. This was more time than viewers spent viewing video on the combined sites ranked numbers two to 25. However, the majority of online video, 52%, was consumed at sites outside the top 25, suggesting increased fragmentation of the online video market.

Video usage and viewing trend total duration Feb 2010

Total video viewing trends Feb 2010

Online Video Watchers Prefer Google Sites
Google Sites accounted for 13.2 billion videos, or almost 40% of total online videos viewed in December 2009, according to earlier comScore Video Metrix data. YouTube.com accounted for nearly 99% of all videos viewed at Google Sites. Hulu ranked second with more than 1 billion videos viewed, an all-time high for the property, representing 3% market share. Microsoft Sites ranked third with 561 million (1.7%), followed by Fox Interactive Media with 551 million (1.7%) and Yahoo! Sites with 539 million (1.6%).

About the author

Mike Andrew has been working with the Internet and small business for over 12 years. Mike has been a keynote speaker at conventions and seminars and conducted social media training sessions all over the world. Mike has an extensive media background having worked in electronic media for over 30 years. Mike specialises in social media and Internet marketing strategy, SEO techniques and search engine marketing campaigns. His articles appear on numerous blogs around the web as well as national magazines.