During July 2010, 178 million US internet users watched online video content for an average of 14.7 hours per viewer, according to comScore Video Metrix data.
Facebook Takes Third Spot in Unique Viewership
Ranking the top online video sites by unique viewer, Facebook.com jumped from fourth place in June 2010 to third place in July 2010 with 46.57 million unique viewers. Facebook narrowly beat Microsoft Sites, which had 45.56 million unique viewers for the month. Vevo, which was ranked third place in viewership in June 2010, dropped to fifth place with 43.91 million unique viewers.
Meanwhile, Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, once again ranked as the top online video content property with 143.2 million unique viewers, followed by Yahoo Sites with 55.1 million viewers.
Google Leads Sessions, Minutes Per User
Aided by the popularity of YouTube, Google Sites also dominated its online video competitors in total viewing sessions (1.88 billion) and average minutes per viewer (282.7). Yahoo Sites was a distant second place in viewing sessions with 238.32 million, followed by Microsoft Sites (219.15 million) and Vevo (202.1 million).
In terms of average minutes per viewer, Hulu ranked second with 158, trailed by Vevo with 68.5 and Yahoo with 28.6. Americans had a total of 5.23 billion online video viewing sessions during July 2010, averaging 882 minutes per user.
Hulu Tops in Video Ad Impressions
Americans viewed nearly 3.6 billion video ads in July, with Hulu generating the highest number of video ad impressions at 783 million. Tremor Media Video Network ranked second overall (and highest among video ad networks) with 452 million ad views, followed by BrightRoll Video Network (248 million) and Microsoft Sites (232 million).
Video ads reached 44.5% of the total U.S. population an average of 27 times during the month. Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 27.9 during the course of the month.
Other Findings
- The top video ad networks in terms of their potential reach of the total US population were: ScanScout Network at 40.5%, BrightRoll Video Network at 39.4%, and Break Media Network at 38.7%.
- 84.9% of the total US internet audience viewed online video.
- The duration of the average online content video was 4.8 minutes, while the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes.
- Video ads accounted for 9.8% of all videos viewed and 0.9% of all minutes spent viewing video online.
Men Spend More Time Watching Online Video
Men spend much more time on average watching online video than women, according to a recent comScore study. “How Women Are Shaping the Internet” indicates in the US, men watch more than 15 hours of online video per month, roughly triple the average time spent by women.
Similarly wide discrepancies exist in the other three countries where online video consumption is the heaviest: Canada, Germany, and the UK. The discrepancy is smallest in Malaysia, where both genders average less than five hours of online video per month.
