Video streams don't lose steam

Online videos grow increasingly popular in market dominated by Google’s YouTube

Be honest: you think you’re addicted to Internet videos, don’t you? Don’t worry because you’re not the only one.

The total number of video streams viewed has grown by 34% in the last year, according to a new year-over-year study of overall online video usage in the United States published by Nielsen this week. This is the latest report indicating a rise in video watching, one of the most popular aspects of the web.

Not only are we spending more time watching online videos, say the numbers, but also there are more of us online watching them. The number of unique visitors registered by online streams rose by 13%, streams watched per viewers rose by 19%, and each viewer spent an additional 37% more time watching videos. Drawn from samples taken last month, Nielsen reports that, on average, each user is watching about 75 videos a month, totaling up to just over three hours.

Though that might not sound like much compared to the kind of numbers some television networks see, we need to remember that Internet video content is often much shorter and to-the-point. As an easy example, just compare the average YouTube video (which currently maxes out at ten minutes long) with standard television programming.

Indeed, the comparisons to YouTube will not cease, as the social video Web site continues to dominate the online video market, according to Nielsen’s report. On top of this unsurprising news, Alexa confirms that YouTube continues to dominate much of Internet use, claiming a place in the top 5 sites on the Web.

Far behind YouTube in Nielsen’s report is Hulu, a joint venture founded in 2007 by traditional media outlets NBC, Fox, and ABC, in second place for video streams being watched. Next come search engines like Yahoo! and Microsoft Bing, all with far less viewers and views than YouTube.

Nevertheless, the starry rise of Hulu in just the past year reveals that the growing video stream market always has room for new competitors, even in the face of YouTube’s intimidating stance as definitive market leader.