The last two years have seen online video reach the masses, and grow massively as a result. That trend has continued apace during the first half of 2008, with comScore revealing 12 billion videos were watched in the US during the month of May.

That 12 billion videos suggest a 45% increase on the same period last year, and shows a very healthy growth in online video. This is both from user-generated sites such as YouTube, and those providing streaming television, such as Hulu.

142 Million Uniques

Ars Technica reports that 142 million unique users watched video online in May, which counts for 74% of the total Internet users in the US, meaning 3 out of 4 people have watched some kind of video online.

The average user watched 85.3 videos during the month, with Google sites coming top of the pile. This includes both Google Video, and the Google-owned YouTube, which as a whole, accounted for 35% of the total videos viewed.

The Rankings

Second was Fox, with MySpace Video, while Yahoo! sites came in third. Hulu, with content contributed by both Fox and NBC, came in tenth, but this meant only 0.7% of the total videos viewed.

Online video continues to grow at a massive rate, with both illegal, and legitimate means of watching video on the Web rising in number on a monthly basis.

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