Online Video Cools Off in January
The latest figures released by the comScore Video Metrix service shows that while online video in general cooled off in January from its record setting December numbers, Google video sites still held onto its commanding lead in the U.S. market. Of the more than 9.8 billion online videos viewed in January 2008, about a third of them were watched on YouTube.
The total number of videos viewed in January reflected a drop from December 2007’s 10.1 billion videos seen online.
The decline in the total number of videos viewed online in the U.S. did not curtail Google’s stranglehold of the top spot. Almost 3.4 billion online videos were viewed on Google’s online video property, or 34.3% of all videos during the month. This was a gain of 1.7 market share points compared to December. As expected, more than 96% of all videos watched on Google video property were viewed on YouTube.
As YouTube begins edging further into higher definition video territory, there is little reason to suspect that this large share of the market will decline anytime soon.
Fox Interactive Media was second on the list, with 584 million videos viewed in January, or 6.0% of the total. Yahoo! Sites was third with 315 million videos viewed, or 3.2% of the market. Microsoft Sites was fourth on the list with 199 million videos viewed, or 2.0% of the market. The latter two companies were still in the midst of discussions earlier in the week, and as things stand now, a merging of their respective market shares would only make them a stronger third place finisher in the online video market.
Viacom Digital (2.0%), AOL LLC (1.2%), Disney Online (1.0%), Time Warner – Excl. AOL (0.9%), ESPN (0.8%), and ABC.com (0.5%) rounded out the top 10 list in the U.S. for January.
There were a total of 139.5 million unique online video viewers in the U.S. during the month. This was equivalent to 75.7% of the total U.S. Internet audience in January. Each viewer spent an average of 206.3 minutes watching online videos during January.
Google Sites drew 80.1 million unique viewers, with each spending an average of 109.9 minutes watching videos during the month. Fox Interactive Media attracted 53.9 million unique viewers in January, each spending an average of 11.7 minutes watching video content. Yahoo! Sites was third with 36.4 million unique viewers, each spending an average of 18.0 minutes watching online video content during the month.
AOL LLC (21.9 million; 7.4 minutes), Viacom Digital (21.7 million; 33.0 minutes), Microsoft Sites (20.8 million; 30.0 minutes), Time Warner – Excl. AOL (13.9 million; 18.2 minutes), Disney Online (13.0 million; 8.9 minutes), ESPN (8.8 million; 15.9 minutes), and Apple Inc. (8.7 million; 21.2 minutes) rounded out the top 10 list.
The average online video was 2.9 minutes in length, and the average online video viewer watched 70 videos in January.
