By Melissa Campanelli
February 14, 2008

U.S. Internet users viewed more than 10 billion videos in December 2007, according to the comScore Video Metrix service from Reston, Va.-based comScore Inc. The company said this number represents the heaviest month for online video consumption since comScore launched the service in May 2006.

The increase in video viewing could be attributed to the fact that viewers were seeking alternatives for fresh content as the writer's strike was keeping new TV episodes from being aired, comScore hypothesized. Google Sites was the top U.S. video property in December, with 3.3 billion videos viewed (32.6 percent share of videos), gaining 1.3 share points versus the previous month.

YouTube.com accounted for more than 97 percent of all videos viewed. Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 358 million (3.5 percent), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 340 million (3.4 percent) and Viacom Digital with 238 million (2.3 percent).

In total, almost 141 million Americans viewed online video in December. Google Sites also captured the largest online video audience with 79 million unique viewers, followed by Fox Interactive Media with 43.9 million and Yahoo! Sites with 38.2 million.

Other findings include:

• 77.6 million viewers watched 3.2 billion videos on YouTube.com (41.6 videos per viewer);
• 40.5 million viewers watched 334 million videos on MySpace.com (8.2 videos per viewer);
• Online viewers watched an average of 3.4 hours (203 minutes) of online video during December, representing a 34 percent gain since the beginning of 2007;
• The average online video duration was 2.8 minutes; and
• The average online video viewer watched 72 videos.

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