Last Friday, comScore released the July US Online Video Rankings report, which showed that “more than 184 million US internet users watched 36.9 billion online content videos in July.” I’d guess it comes as no surprise to most that this number is up from the same time last year. However, this report also shows three very important trends in online video.
In the US…
- A lot more people are watching video content online, up 37.3% since 2007.
- Americans are willing to watch longer videos online. The average video length watched has increased from 2.7 min in July 2007 to 6.7 min in July 2012 (148.1% increase).
- More time is being spent each month watching online videos, up a whopping 638.6% since July 2007.
The major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox) are feeling the impact of these shifts. According to ClickZ, all were down 6% compared to last summer. What is even more interesting is, according to comScore’s report, YouTube’s top Partner channel, VEVO, had close to 4 times more viewers in July than the top ranked network TV program, The Baseball All-Star Game on Fox. In fact, there were a total of five YouTube Partner channels that garnered more viewers in July than The Baseball All-Star Game.
Looking ahead, August’s US Online Video Rankings report should be interesting, thanks to NBC’s live stream of all 32 Olympic sports and 302 events. According to TechHive, by Day 6 of the Games, there had been approximately 64 million video streams across all devices and platforms.