Marketing Pilgrim

It seems that more people are watching video online these days. Maybe it’s the rise in unemployment where people are finding more ‘free time’ these days rather than having to be hassled with a job. Maybe it’s the folks at their desks trying to while away the time since there is no business being done? Maybe it’s the high quality of most video on the Internet? Maybe it’s the ‘job outsourcing” craze? Maybe I am being way too cynical?

Whatever it is, ClickZ reports that comScore’s Video Metrix service showed an Internet users watched 16.8 billion online videos in April of this year which is a 16% increase over March. Google itself increased 15% month over month for videos viewed on its properties led by YouTube. What is most striking is what Google is doing regarding market share of online video. It’s a show that is as impressive, if not more so, than their search engine dominance. Here’s the numbers

• Total Internet: 16.8 billion; 100 percent market share
• Google sites: 6.8 billion; 40.7 percent market share
• Fox Interactive Media: 513 million; 3.1 percent market share
• Hulu: 397 million; 2.4 percent market share
• Viacom: 315.2 million; 1.9 percent market share
• Microsoft sites: 288.3 million; 1.7 percent market share

If you are Microsoft you have got be getting tired of being on or near the bottom of lists that Google is on the top of. Here’s one stat, however, that really seemed a bit over the top but if you’re Google you gotta smile just a bit

In a month of record video viewing on Google, nearly 152 million U.S. Internet users watched an average 111 videos each.

Thank God for those super fast business class Internet connections at work, huh? What would you do at work all day if there wasn’t video?