Those of use who write about the online video market on a
regular basis know how strong that market is, and how many Internet
users watch video online as part of their browsing experience.
Now ComScore, one
of the more
widely referenced research houses on technology-related matters today,
has made its latest findings for Internet trends involving video
available for all to see.
Anyone who’s curious to know just
how super
popular online video has become, need look no further than ComScore’s
newest report.
July Figures
The facts and figures the research firm has released are
specific to
the month of July, so it’s likely that the numbers as of this
moment
rank even higher (just a bit) than those ComScore has put out as the
first tally for Q3 2007.
According to the firm’s report, the online video
market is, in
short, a very, very strong one. If the numbers are indeed accurate, 75%
of all Internet users – all Internet
users – are now watching video online.
Well, maybe not right now. More like a
general day-to-day,
week-to-week, month-to-month timeframe kind of thing. But you get the
picture. The number’s huge. And it’s climbing
steadily.
ComScore stated that only a few months ago – March of 2007, to
be
precise – 71% of Internet users were enjoying Web video in at
least one
of its many varieties. That’s a four-percent jump in about
four months.
Ladies and gentlemen, the boom is upon us.
Compared To Traditional Television
Let’s keep things in perspective, though, shall we?
In comparison to
traditional television statistics, Web video is still kind
of…you
know…small.
In a month’s time, ComScore claims
that the average viewer
of video transmitted over the Internet watched just north of 3 hours of
such content in July (181 minutes; in March of this year, the average
was 145 minutes).
If broadcast television is still as ubiquitous and
ever-popular as I’ve been led to believe, one has to be
ultra-conservative to stay below the 3-hour mark in that arena.
Nonetheless, Web video is clearly on the up-and-up, though the
trend is more gradual than phenomenal at this point.
The Results Are In
Want to know who the king of the industry hill is? Why, Google
is, of course. YouTube
had the company claiming 27% of the market by the end of July. That
comes out to about 2.5 billion videos viewed. In a single month. Pretty
huge if you ask me.
The standings of some other Web-based institutions on the list
are
surprising as well. Comscore’s research shows Yahoo! edging
out Rupert
Murdoch’s Fox Interactive Media, proprietor of
MySpace
and Photobucket
by about 100 million in terms of videos viewed.
The report pins Yahoo!
with 4.3% of the market, and Fox at 3.3%. That simply doesn’t
seem
right. If anything, one would think it was the other way around.
By the bye, any Veoh
fans out there? If so, you might be surprised to find outfits like
Viacom Digital (responsible for Daily Show clips, among other things),
Disney Online, Time Warner (AOL), Microsoft, and ESPN all falling in
line ahead of your favorite well-regarded independent video host.
That, I also have to say, doesn’t seem right.
Ah well, it is what it is. Which leads me to a question I now
put to
you: Do you care at all, one way or another? No? Alright. Thank you for
your time. You may now get back to your Web video queue.
Paul Glazowski is a contributing author discussing the social networking world, his work can be found on Profy.com
