comScore Releases April 2012 U.S. Online Video Rankings

Video Ad Delivery Continues to Soar to New Heights, Representing 1 in 5 Videos Viewed

RESTON, VA – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, released data from the comScore Video Metrix service showing that 181 million U.S. Internet users watched nearly 37 billion online content videos in April. Video ads saw another record-breaking month with nearly 9.5 billion, representing 1 in 5 videos viewed online in April.

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Top 10 Video Content Properties by Unique Viewers

Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in April with 157.7 million unique viewers, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 53.6 million, VEVO with 49.5 million, Facebook.com with 44.3 million and Microsoft Sites with 42.8 million. Nearly 37 billion video views occurred during the month, with Google Sites generating the highest number at 17 billion, followed by Hulu with 901 million and Yahoo! Sites with 742 million. The average viewer watched 21.8 hours of online video content, with Google Sites (7.2 hours) and Hulu (3.8 hours) earning the highest average engagement among the top ten properties.

Top U.S. Online Video Content Properties Ranked by Unique Video Viewers
April 2012
Total U.S. – Home and Work Locations
Content Videos Only (Ad Videos Not Included)
Source: comScore Video Metrix
Property Total Unique Viewers (000) Videos (000)* Minutes per Viewer
Total Internet : Total Audience 180,785 36,848,001 1,307.7
Google Sites 157,663 17,022,226 434.8
Yahoo! Sites 53,604 741,995 73.7
VEVO 49,479 674,183 57.9
Facebook.com 44,298 264,903 27.0
Microsoft Sites 42,833 486,567 42.4
Viacom Digital 41,247 501,100 58.9
AOL, Inc. 38,925 496,400 54.3
Amazon Sites 30,168 104,581 17.4
Hulu 28,233 901,060 228.5
News Distribution Network, Inc. 27,005 186,956 75.2

*A video is defined as any streamed segment of audiovisual content, including both progressive downloads and live streams. For long-form, segmented content, (e.g. television episodes with ad pods in the middle) each segment of the content is counted as a distinct video stream.

Top 10 Video Ad Properties by Video Ads Viewed

Americans viewed 9.5 billion video ads in April, representing another month of record video ad views. Hulu topped the chart with 1.6 billion video ads delivered, followed by Google Sites with 1.3 billion, BrightRoll Video Network with 943 million, Adap.tv with 881 million and TubeMogul Video Ad Platform with 831 million. Time spent watching video ads totaled 3.9 billion minutes, with Hulu delivering the highest duration of video ads at 670 million minutes. Video ads reached 52 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 60 times during the month. Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 49, while ESPN delivered an average of 27 ads per viewer.

Top U.S. Online Video Ad Properties Ranked by Video Ads* Viewed
April 2012
Total U.S. – Home and Work Locations
Ad Videos Only (Content Videos Not Included)
Source: comScore Video Metrix
Property Video Ads (000) Total Ad Minutes (MM) Frequency (Ads per Viewer) % Reach Total U.S. Population
Total Internet : Total Audience 9,478,975 3,937 59.8 51.7
Hulu 1,597,166 670 48.6 10.7
Google Sites 1,319,342 136 17.7 24.3
BrightRoll Video Network** 942,899 566 9.1 33.8
Adap.tv 880,522 525 12.7 22.5
TubeMogul Video Ad Platform** 830,621 230 17.1 15.9
SpotXchange Video Ad Marketplace** 666,588 367 12.8 17.0
Tremor Video** 661,727 360 13.2 16.3
Specific Media** 650,578 314 6.9 30.9
ESPN 514,347 189 26.6 6.3
Auditude, Inc.** 511,278 202 11.3 14.8

*Video ads include streaming-video advertising only and do not include other types of video monetization, such as overlays, branded players, matching banner ads, etc.
**Indicates video ad network
†Indicates video ad exchange

Top 10 YouTube Partner Channels by Unique Viewers

The April 2012 YouTube partner data revealed that video music channels VEVO (48.3 million viewers) and Warner Music (28.6 million viewers) maintained the top two positions. Gaming channel Machinima ranked third with 23.1 million viewers, followed by Maker Studios Inc. with 15.4 million, FullScreen with 12.3 million and BroadbandTV with 8.2 million. Among the top 10 YouTube partners, Machinima demonstrated the highest engagement (65 minutes per viewer) followed by VEVO (57 minutes per viewer). VEVO streamed the most videos (644 million), followed by Machinima (382 million).

Top YouTube Partner Channels* Ranked by Unique Video Viewers
April 2012
Total U.S. – Home and Work Locations
Content Videos Only (Ad Videos Not Included)
Source: comScore Video Metrix
Property Total Unique Viewers (000) Videos (000) Minutes per Viewer
VEVO @ YouTube 48,307 644,111 56.7
Warner Music @ Youtube 28,632 177,251 25.0
Machinima @ YouTube 23,146 382,360 65.0
Maker Studios Inc. @ YouTube 15,353 165,485 43.9
FullScreen @ YouTube 12,331 58,994 18.1
BroadbandTV @ YouTube 8,218 38,245 17.2
Big Frame @ YouTube 7,266 41,647 20.3
Demand Media @ YouTube 6,321 15,622 8.1
Clevvertv @ YouTube 6,076 12,541 7.6
IGN @ YouTube 5,933 30,663 16.8

*YouTube Partner Reporting based on online video content viewing and does not include claimed user-generated content

Other notable findings from April 2012 include:

  • 84.5 percent of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
  • The duration of the average online content video was 6.4 minutes, while the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes.
  • Video ads accounted for 20.5 percent of all videos viewed and 1.6 percent of all minutes spent viewing video online.

About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital business analytics. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

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