January 2009 data from comScore shows that the total UK online video viewing audience has grown 10% during the past year to 29.6 million unique viewers age 15 and older.
Google Sites once again ranked as the top online video property in the UK, said comScore, with 23.7 million viewers (up 14% versus a year ago), driven by the popularity of YouTube.com, which accounted for 99% of all videos viewed on the property.
BBC Sites ranked second with 6.8 million viewers, followed by Microsoft Sites (4.3 million viewers), Facebook.com (3.6 million viewers), and Yahoo! Sites (3 million viewers).
| Top UK Online Video Properties Ranked by Total Unique Viewers (000)*, January 2009 v January 2008, Total UK – Age 15+, Home and Work Locations** |
| Property |
Jan-2008 |
Jan-2009 |
% Change |
| Total Internet : Total Audience |
26,806 |
29,574 |
10% |
| Google Sites |
20,679 |
23,664 |
14% |
| YouTube.com |
20,042 |
23,523 |
17% |
| BBC Sites |
5,746 |
6,771 |
18% |
| Microsoft Sites |
4,963 |
4,344 |
-12% |
| Facebook.com |
1,489 |
3,582 |
140% |
| Yahoo! Sites |
3,402 |
2,998 |
-12% |
| Amazon Sites |
1,620 |
2,945 |
82% |
| Fox Interactive Media |
3,829 |
2,587 |
-32% |
| AOL LLC |
N/A |
2,198 |
N/A |
| Megavideo.com |
800 |
2,189 |
174% |
| Metacafe |
1,835 |
1,940 |
6% |
| *Rankings based on video content sites; excludes video server networks. Online video includes both streaming and progressive download video. |
| **Excludes internet activity from public computers such as internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs. |
| Source: comScore Video Metrix |
A total of 4 billion videos were viewed online in the UK in January 2009, of which 99.5 million (2.5%) were watched on the websites of the top five television broadcasters: the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, and Sky.
The majority of these videos were viewed on BBC Sites, which captured a 54.7% market share among the Big five, followed by Channel 4 (23.8%), ITV Sites (13.6%), Sky Sites (6.8%) and Five.tv (1.1%).
comScore also found that 80.1% of the total UK internet audience viewed online video, while 4.8 million UK mobile phone subscribers used their phone to watch any kind of TV or video.
Earlier this month, comScore revealed that US internet users viewed 14.8 billion online videos during January 2009, representing an increase of 4% versus December 2008 (see US internet viewers watched 14.8bn online videos in January).
In February, Leichtman Research Group reported that 34% of US adults online at home report that they view some type of video online at least weekly, including 11% who view video online daily (see US online video viewing increases).
