YouTube Tops 14.5 Billion and Sets Record Says ComScore

It's certainly long in the coming. YouTube, well technically the Google sites, topped 14.6 billion video streams in May according to comScore.

Yes, those computators of computationals are back with their latest stats set, this time it's for May 2010. What have they to say?

Hear ye, Hear ye, comScore has announced the video online is officially back!

Well OK, they didn't quite put it like that, but that's the long and short of it. More Americans watched video online (183 million) than even thought about doing some good for the environment. OK, they didn't really say that but I have a sneaking suspicion that one is totally true.

I find it funny that in the charts they throw Google together with all of the sites it owns, like YouTube, but then in their insightful insight (I'm being facetious again) they state that "YouTube.com achieved record levels of viewing activity in May with an all-time high of 14.6 billion videos viewed and surpassing the threshold of 100 videos per viewer for the first time."

Whoa, so what comScore is really saying is that YouTube is Google and there is no other video being watched on any Google site. Really, think about it, that IS what they are saying in that statement. Frankly, I call bullshit.

Then again, it IS comScore, and they have all kinds of funkiness in their numbers. Because, I'm still convinced, they don't directly measure every single video stream. Why do I say that? One four letter word...porn! I have not once seen a porn site show up in the top ten of anything comScore tracks...I rest my case.

Anyway, in those sites that comScore DOES track, Hulu ranked second with 1.2 billion videos, or 3.5 percent of all online videos viewed. Microsoft Sites ranked third with 642 million (1.9 percent), followed by Vevo with 430 million (1.3 percent) and Viacom Digital with 347 million (1.0 percent).

*Rankings based on video content sites; excludes video server networks. Online video includes both streaming and progressive download video.

Not much was super-duper-special in the 'by unique visitors category. Again Google, or rather YouTube, topped the charts with 144.5 million viewers and 101.2 videos per viewers, again, grain of salt required most assuredly. Behind them by only a mere 100 million unique visitors was Yahoo!, then Vevo, Facebook, FOX, and Hulu all the way down in 6th place.

*Rankings based on video content sites; excludes video server networks. Online video includes both streaming and progressive download video.

Now on to our favorite and most useful part of the report, who is watching video ads where. Tremor rocks the chart once again remaining in the top spot with a savvy 56.2% viewer penetration 102.7M. Sure, ScanScout, who has been consistently gaining month over month, is close behind with 54.3% (99.3M perhaps the smallest gap we've seen in the top two for a year) and YuMe is not at all far behind with 47.8% (87.5M) , almost not enough to fend off Adconion (47.4% or 86.6M) but more than enough to hold Advertising.com at bay (45.9% or 83.9M).  In fact that bottom six, including Brighroll in 10th place, are all within 10% of each other in regards to reach.

Other notable findings from May 2010 include:

And finally, the random facts list:

• The top video ad networks in terms of their actual reach delivered were: Joost Video Network (by Adconion Media Group) with 35.2 percent penetration of online video viewers, BrightRoll Video Network with 24.4 percent, and Tremor Media Video Network with 21.2 percent.
• 84.8 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
• 144.1 million viewers watched 14.6 billion videos on YouTube.com (101.2 videos per viewer).
• The average Hulu viewer watched 27.0 videos, totaling 2.7 hours of video per viewer.
• The duration of the average online video was 4.3 minutes.