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Video Sites Benefiting From Broadband Boom
By Pamela Parker | March 14, 2006
The rate of broadband adoption in the U.S. may be slowing, but sites like YouTube, MSN Video and Google Video are seeing dramatic traffic increases, according to new research from Nielsen//NetRatings.
The growth could be a boon to ad-supported sites, as advertisers increasingly look for available video inventory. It could also boost multi-channel campaigns that use TV or print to drive action online.
The company found MSN Video to be tops among video sites traffic-wise, attracting 9.3 million unique users in February, up 44 percent over the same period a year before. But YouTube, which wasn't even on the charts a year ago, was close behind, with 9 million unique users. Another new player, Google Video, came in third with 6.2 million uniques, while iFILM grew 102 percent over the course of the year to 4.3 million unique users. The site with the lowest traffic, but with significant momentum, was Yahoo! Video Search, which drew only 3.8 million unique users but grew 148 percent from the year-ago month.
"YouTube has really seemed to come out of nowhere," said Jon Gibs, senior director of media at Nielsen//NetRatings. Gibs noted that one important question in these sites' future is the extent to which they can cooperate with television networks, given the varying reactions from networks thus far. "I just have to feel that it's incredibly shortsighted on the networks' part to prevent short-form content to be placed on these services," he said. "I can't see how it could cannibalize the TV programming itself, and all it could be is beneficial."
Word of the booming growth in online video content comes as two-thirds, or 68 percent, of the U.S. Internet population has adopted broadband, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. That February figure represents a 28 percent year-over-year growth rate and an all-time high. Time spent online per Internet user was also at an all-time high, at 30 hours and 35 minutes a week. Last year, Internet users on average spent only 27 hours and 49 minutes online.
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