January 2009 data from the comScore Video Metrix service shows that US internet users viewed 14.8 billion online videos during the month, representing an increase of 4% versus December 2008.
YouTube led the growth charge, accounting for 91% of the incremental gain in the number of videos viewed versus December, as it surpassed 100 million viewers for the first time.
In January, Google Sites once again ranked as the top US video property with 6.4 billion videos viewed (43% online video market share), with YouTube.com accounting for more than 99% of all videos viewed at the property.
Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 552 million videos (3.7%), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 374 million (2.5%) and Viacom Digital with 288 million (1.9%). Megavideo climbed 15 percent (103 million videos) in January to capture a spot in the top ten for the first time.
comScore also found that 76.8% of the total US internet audience viewed online video in January.
The average online video viewer watched 356 minutes of video (approximately six hours), up 15% versus December.
In other research, comScore forecast that the coming year will see a rise in online video viewing and a shift to online ad spending (see Online video viewing to rise in 2009).
Viewing of TV and movie content online continues to become a more mainstream behaviour, said comScore, offering advertisers a new opportunity to capitalise on this highly engaged audience.
Leichtman Research Group recently revealed 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).
