YouTube still rules online video, U.S. viewing time leaps 40%
According to the latest report from comScore Video Metrix, the number of videos viewed by Americans increased by 34 percent over the past year, with 12.7 billion videos viewed in November 2008, up from 9.5 billion the previous November. That means Americans spent a whopping 40 percent more time watching online videos over the course of the year, says NewTeeVee. Seventy seven percent of the U.S. internet audience watches online video - that’s a lot of couch potatoes surfing the internet with laptops balanced precariously on their knees (raise your hand if you’ve ever been burned by an overheating laptop).
ComScore reports that 146 million viewers tuned in to watch online videos in November 2008, which isn’t a huge spike from 138 million in November 2007. However, in 2008, the average viewer watched 273 minutes of online video during the same month. That’s an increase of more than an hour in the past year (195 minutes in November 2007), or two and a half episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. While the average video was watched for 3.1 minutes, the average video on Hulu was watched for an impressive 11.9 minutes, longer than any other internet property in the top 10 list. Hulu’s offering of premium TV shows and films is definitely a factor in keeping U.S. viewers watching longer, even with ads sprinkled sporadically throughout.