More than Nine Billion Video Streams Viewed in the U.S. in March

April 27, 2010

The Nielsen Company today reported overall online video usage and top online brands ranked by video streams for March 2010. The number of unique viewers of online video increased 1.3% year-over-year, from 130.1 million unique viewers in March 2009 to 131.7 million in March 2010.

Among the top Web brands ranked by unique viewers in January, Google was the fastest growing month-over-month, increasing 122.9%. Disney Online and Yahoo! were the second and third fastest growing, increasing 40.3% and 19.4% month-over-month, respectively.

Overall Online Video Usage (U.S.)
Mar-10 Year-Over-Year Month-Over-Month
Unique Viewers (000) 131,736 1.3% -0.4%
Total Streams (000) 9,261,438 -4.2% -10.1%
Streams per Viewer 70.3 -5.5% -9.8%
Time per Viewer (min) 183.4 -3.8% -5.5%
Source: The Nielsen Company

Top Online Brands ranked by Unique Viewers for March 2010 (U.S.)
Video Brand Unique Viewers (000) MOM Viewers % Growth
YouTube 96,075 -11.7%
Yahoo! 30,469 19.4%
Facebook 23,339 3.6%
Google 15,241 122.9%
MSN/WindowsLive/Bing 14,828 -21.9%
Hulu 12,196 -13.7%
CNN Digital Network 10,992 -19.0%
Disney Online 8,966 40.3%
Fox Interactive Media 8,944 -20.9%
ESPN Digital Network 7,378 -0.6%
Source: The Nielsen Company

Top Online Brands ranked by Video Streams for March 2010 (U.S.)
Video Brand Total Streams (000) MOM Streams % Growth
YouTube 4,672,376 -21.0%
Hulu 707,547 9.3%
Yahoo! 244,422 24.2%
MSN/WindowsLive/Bing 170,034 -22.3%
Nickelodeon Kids and Family Network 149,950 14.8%
CBS Entertainment Network 144,085 33.9%
Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network 141,917 3.2%
CNN Digital Network 129,721 -14.9%
Blinkx 107,190 9.7%
Facebook 104,097 12.0%
Source: The Nielsen Company

Top Online Brands ranked by Time per Viewer for March 2010 (U.S.), 250K Unique Viewer Minimum
Video Brand Time per Viewer (min) MOM Time % Growth
Netflix 428.9 963.1%
Hulu 272.4 11.3%
ABC Family 183.3 -9.9%
Tudou.com 163.4 47.5%
Justin.tv 162.4 55.7%
Stickam 155.4 86.8%
Megavideo 140.3 -12.3%
Veoh 137.3 179.8%
StageVU 96.2 5.6%
YouTube 93.7 -13.2%
Source: The Nielsen Company

Note: Effective with June 2009 data reporting, Nielsen has made several enhancements to the VideoCensus service, including a panel that is 8 times larger, more granular reporting and improved accuracy and representativeness. These enhancements provide the highest quality data to our clients and the marketplace. For some sites, trending of previously-reported data with current results may show percentage differences attributable to these product enhancements and should only be compared directionally.

Nielsen VideoCensus Methodology and Metrics:
Nielsen VideoCensus combines patented panel and census research methodologies to provide an accurate count of viewing activity and engagement along with in-depth demographic reporting. Online video viewing is tracked according to video player, which can be used on site or embedded elsewhere on the Web. For example, if a “Saturday Night Live” clip from NBC.com is embedded on a personal blog, that video would be attributed to NBC because of the NBC video player.

A unique viewer is anyone who viewed a full episode, part of an episode or a program clip during the month. A stream is a program segment. VideoCensus measurement includes progressive downloads and does not include video advertising.

For press inquiries or for more information on this article contact Nielsen
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  • http://www.pstonier.com Peter Stonier

    I am working for people he keep insisting that people want web video content to be short. Wish I could find out if there's data to support this seemingly conventional idea. Most people don't know how to tell stories longer than a couple of minutes. It's the difference between building a bridge over a creek or a river. Films are still on average almost 2 hours. Television is typically 24 minutes or 50 minutes after commercials I think. I imagine that people watch TV shows for an average of a few mintues or so, considering all the channel surfing. Storytelling in our culture requires character development, the unfolding of developments, a tension between hope and fear — and this takes time. Not to many people remember which shorts won the academy awards.

  • http://www.abdeus.com Zane

    I would love to see this broken out by VOD and LIVE video

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