U.S. Online Video Viewing Surges 13 Percent in Record-Setting December

Americans View 14.3 Billion Videos during the Month as YouTube Paces Growth

RESTON, VA, February 4, 2009 – Comscore (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released December 2008 data from the Comscore Video Metrix service showing that U.S. Internet users viewed a record 14.3 billion online videos during the month, representing an increase of 13 percent versus the previous month. YouTube led the growth charge, accounting for 49 percent of the incremental gain in videos viewed versus November.

Google Sites Adds to Lead in Video Market Share

In December, Google Sites once again ranked as the top U.S. video property with 5.9 billion videos viewed (41 percent online video market share), with YouTube.com accounting for more than 99 percent of all videos viewed at the property. Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 445 million videos (3.1 percent), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 330 million (2.3 percent) and Viacom Digital with 291 million (2.0 percent). Hulu continued its growth trajectory, climbing 6 percent versus November to 241 million videos viewed.

Top U.S. Online Video Properties* by Videos Viewed
December 2008
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Source: Comscore Video Metrix
Property

Videos

(000)

Share (%) of

Videos

Total Internet 14,318,722 100.0
Google Sites 5,905,854 41.2
Fox Interactive Media 444,865 3.1
Yahoo! Sites 330,025 2.3
Viacom Digital 290,558 2.0
Microsoft Sites 247,903 1.7
Hulu.com 240,585 1.7
AOL LLC 197,135 1.4
Turner Network 183,948 1.3
Disney Online 148,434 1.0
ESPN 102,542 0.7

*Rankings based on video content sites; excludes video server networks. Online video includes both streaming and progressive download video.

Google Sites Surpasses 100 Million Viewers in December

Nearly 150 million U.S. Internet users watched an average of 96 videos per viewer in December. Google Sites surpassed 100 million online video viewers during the month, representing two out of every three Internet users who watched video. Fox Interactive ranked second with 56.9 million viewers, followed by Yahoo! Sites (42.8 million) and AOL LLC (31.5 million).

Top U.S. Online Video Properties* by Unique Viewers
December 2008
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Source: Comscore Video Metrix
Property Unique Viewers (000) Average Videos per Viewer
Total Internet 149,587 95.7
Google Sites 100,092 59.0
Fox Interactive Media 56,895 7.8
Yahoo! Sites 42,761 7.7
AOL LLC 31,522 6.3
Microsoft Sites 29,534 8.4
Viacom Digital 27,370 10.6
Hulu.com 24,572 9.8
Turner Network 20,499 9.0
Time Warner - Excl. AOL 17,294 2.8
CBS Corporation 14,840 3.7

*Rankings based on video content sites; excludes video server networks. Online video includes both streaming and progressive download video.

Other notable findings from December 2008 include:

  • 78.5 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
  • The average online video viewer watched 309 minutes of video, or more than 5 hours.
  • 98.9 million viewers watched 5.9 billion videos on YouTube.com (59.2 videos per viewer).
  • 48.7 million viewers watched 367 million videos on MySpace.com (7.6 videos per viewer).
  • The duration of the average online video was 3.2 minutes.
  • The duration of the average online video viewed at Hulu was 10.1 minutes, higher than any other video property in the top ten.

About Comscore

Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

Press
Bill Daddi
Daddi Brand Communications
646-370-1341
press@comscore.com