Online Viewing Numbers Reach Record High

RESTON: U.S. Internet users watched a record 14.3 billion videos online in December, a 13-percent rise on the previous month, according to data from comScore.

Google-owned YouTube was home to 49-percent of that gain. Google Sites in total delivered 5.9 billion video views in the period, reflecting a 41-percent share of the online video market. Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 445 million videos (a 3.1-percent share), followed by Yahoo! sites with 330 million (2.3 percent) and Viacom Digital with 291 million (2 percent). Hulu was up 6 percent to 241 million videos viewed. 

comScore also reveals that almost 150 million U.S. Internet users watched an average of 96 videos each in December. Google sites topped 100 million online video viewers during the month, followed by Fox Interactive with 56.9 million viewers. Yahoo! sites attracted 42.8 million online viewers, and AOL had 31.5 million. Viacom Digital had 27.4 million video viewers, and Hulu attracted 24.6 million.

The research also notes that 78.5 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience watched online video, with the average user viewing 309 minutes (more than five hours.)