Online video viewing is up by all metrics, according to The Nielsen Co.’s July 2009 “VideoCensus.”
The measurement firm recorded a 14.2% year-over-year increase in unique viewers to nearly 136 million. Total streams climbed 31.4% to more than 11.2 billion and average streams per viewer were up to 82.4, a 15.1% gain. Viewers spent an average of about 3.5 hours watching online video in July, a jump of 42.2% over the prior year.
The top site for watching video, according to Nielsen, was YouTube—way out in front with more than 7 billion streams and 104 million unique viewers. Hulu ranked second in number of streams, but was surpassed by Yahoo!, MSN, CNN and Fox Interactive Media properties in unique viewers.
In June 2009, comScore reported record online video viewership, at 157 million unique viewers. Again, Google sites were on top, followed by Microsoft and Fox Interactive Media.
comScore attributed massive June viewership to unusual media events that became online video phenomena, including the memorial service for Michael Jackson and the civil unrest in Iran. Such major events have been important for online video viewing in the past, with many users checking out news videos during the workday. For example, during the January 2009 presidential inauguration, comScore reported a 45% surge in unique video viewers between noon and 1pm versus the prior week.
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