comScore Releases January 2013 U.S. Online Video Rankings

Facebook Streams Record Number of Videos with More Than 425 Million

RESTON, VA – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from the comScore Video Metrix service showing that nearly 180 million U.S. Internet users watched 36.2 billion online content videos in January, while the number of video ad views reached 9.1 billion.

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 January with 150 million unique viewers, followed by Facebook.com with 57 million, VEVO with 50.1 million, NDN with 49.1 million and Yahoo! Sites with 43.7 million. Nearly 36.2 billion video content views occurred during the month, with Google Sites generating the highest number at 12.3 billion and Facebook reaching an all-time high with more than 425 million. Google Sites had the highest average engagement among the top ten properties.

Top U.S. Online Video Content Properties Ranked by Unique Video Viewers
January 2013
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  179,515 36,194,133 1,140.2
Google Sites 149,959 12,307,568 391.2
Facebook.com 56,953 425,859 17.0
VEVO 50,096 578,937 38.6
NDN 49,078 578,065 72.1
Yahoo! Sites 43,713 349,708 56.6
Viacom Digital 43,636 466,339 39.9
AOL, Inc. 42,151 766,470 63.1
Microsoft Sites 36,055 500,039 47.5
Collective Video 33,274 145,029 21.2
Turner Digital 30,636 256,857 34.9

*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.Video views are inclusive of both user-initiated and auto-played videos that are viewed for longer than 3 seconds.

Top 10 Video Ad Properties by Video Ads Viewed

Americans viewed 9.1 billion video ads in January, with Google Sites ranking first with 1.8 billion ads. BrightRoll Video Network came in second with 1.5 billion, followed by Hulu with 1.4 billion, Adap.tv with 1.1 billion and LiveRail.com with 957 million. Time spent watching video ads totaled 3.5 billion minutes, with BrightRoll Video Network delivering the highest duration of video ads at 849 million minutes. Video ads reached more than 50 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 58 times during the month. Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 57, while CBS Interactive delivered an average of 21 ads per viewer, earning it a spot on the chart as it drew increased viewers for specialty programming such as the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show and several awards shows such as the People’s Choice Awards.

Top U.S. Online Video Ad Properties Ranked by Video Ads* Viewed
January 2013
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  9,094,551 3,494 58.4 50.5
Google Sites 1,815,062 151 19.4 30.3
BrightRoll Video Network** 1,539,675 849 12.1 41.4
Hulu 1,368,352 543 56.9 7.8
Adap.TV† 1,128,671 568 10.6 34.4
Liverail.com† 956,723 415 12.3 25.2
Specific Media** 839,924 349 7.4 36.7
Auditude, Inc.** 814,600 178 13.8 19.2
TubeMogul Video Ad Platform† 632,580 208 8.3 24.7
CBS Interactive 566,675 211 21.2 8.7
Tremor Video** 498,036 231 7.8 20.6

*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/DSP/SSP

Top 10 YouTube Partner Channels by Unique Viewers

The January 2013 YouTube partner data revealed that video music channel VEVO maintained the top position in the ranking with 48.9 million viewers. Fullscreen held on to the #2 position with 35.4 million viewers, followed by Maker Studios Inc. with 34.8 million, Warner Music with 25.9 million and ZEFR (formerly MovieClips) with 25.6 million. Among the top 10 YouTube partners, Machinima demonstrated the highest engagement (66 minutes per viewer), followed by Maker Studios Inc. (46 minutes per viewer). VEVO streamed the greatest number of videos (552 million), followed by Machinima (473 million).

Top YouTube Partner Channels* Ranked by Unique Video Viewers
January 2013
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 48,875 552,443 37.6
Fullscreen @ YouTube 35,409 242,739 20.5
Maker Studios Inc. @ YouTube 34,760 446,899 46.2
Warner Music @ Youtube 25,949 144,377 18.7
ZEFR @ YouTube 25,615 112,028 12.0
Machinima @ YouTube 24,322 473,355 66.4
BroadbandTV @ YouTube 15,523 98,394 19.0
UMG @ YouTube 14,655 38,955 7.5
The Orchard @ YouTube 13,636 41,410 8.0
rumblefish @ YouTube 10,878 20,716 4.5

*YouTube Partner Reporting, starting with January 2013 data, gives credit to YouTube Partners for views of their single-claimed user-generated content.

Other notable findings from January 2013 include:

  • 83.5 percent of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
  • The duration of the average online content video was 5.7 minutes, while the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes.
  • Video ads accounted for 20.1 percent of all videos viewed and 1.7 percent of all minutes spent viewing video online.

About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in digital measurement and analytics, delivering insights on web, mobile and TV consumer behavior that enable clients to maximize the value of their digital investments. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.