According to this press release from ComScore, who measures and reports on digital and online usage, online video viewing has increased by 45% in October 2008 when compared to a year ago.

…U.S. Internet users viewed 13.5 billion online videos during the month, representing an increase of 45 percent versus year ago…more than 147 million U.S. Internet users watched an average of 92 videos per viewer in October…

 Of course Google video sites, which include YouTube and Google Video are at the top of the list for traffic. But there is growth through all of the sites listed with Hulu, a relative newcomer, making great gains on the traditional sites. (BTW: Hulu videos are not available for viewing outside the US…but they do show up on YouTube from time to time…a great example of multiple touch-points that are part of the new web based publising…).

There are other video sites out there that are growing into new media channels that aren’t on the list but they may show up next year. To get a sense of what the new media channels might look like, check out Adam Curry’s entertaining Mevio.com or how to do almost anything at  VideoJug.com. And don’t forget about a local producer – OldsTV.com. More than re-purposing of mainstream broadcast segments or user generated content, these new channels are based solely on the web and provide niche content to their audience. Along with the content comes advertising of course. And why not? With millions of eye-balls looking at web based video, companies are moving their marketing, advertising and branding efforts (dollar$) from traditional media into these online venues in an effort to sell their products and services to these viewers.

Here are some of their (ComScore) other findings (note: our bolding):

Other notable findings from October 2008 include:

• 77 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
• The average online video viewer watched 274 minutes of video.
• More than 80 percent of the 18-34 year olds watched online video, higher than any other age segment.
• The average 18-34 year old online video viewer watched 4.8 hours of video during the month, also ranking above all other age segments.
• 99.5 million viewers watched 5.3 billion videos on YouTube.com (53.2 videos per viewer).
• 51.2 million viewers watched 520 million videos on MySpace.com (8.0 videos per viewer).
• The duration of the average online video was 3.0 minutes.
• The duration of the average online video viewed at Hulu was 11.6 minutes, higher than any other video property in the top ten.

 These are just US numbers – what about the rest of the world? If the same percentage of viewers in the US based report are applied to Canadian Internet users the numbers here are still impressive. According to the CRTC, Canadians are very connected to the web and new media with Albertans being the most connected. This is just the begining and there will be lots of opportunity to get your message in front of this growing audience.

Dean