Microsoft Sites Jump to Second Place in Video Content Ranking

ComScore Video Metrix has just released data showing that 170 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content in February for an average of 13.6 hours per viewer. The total U.S. Internet audience engaged in more than 5.0 billion viewing sessions during the course of the shortest month of the year.

In other words, 82.5 percent of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video. That’s bigger than the Super Bowl audience was in February. Oh, and this year’s Super Bowl set a record as the most-watched telecast in U.S. history, with approximately 111 million people watching the game.

Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in February with 141.1 million unique viewers. Google Sites also had the highest number of viewing sessions with 1.8 billion, and average time spent per viewer at 262 minutes, or 4.4 hours. However, that’s old news.

The new news is that Microsoft Sites captured the #2 ranking — up from #7 — with 48.8 million viewers, followed by Yahoo Sites with 46.7 million viewers. Facebook.com came in fourth with nearly 46.7 million viewers, while VEVO ranked fifth with 45.9 million viewers.

Americans also viewed 3.8 billion video ads in February, with Hulu generating the highest number of video ad impressions at more than 1.1 billion. Tremor Media Video Network ranked second overall — and highest among video ad networks — with 548.3 million ad views, followed by ADAP.TV — with 396 million — and SpotXchange Video Ad Network — with 343 million.

Time spent watching videos ads totaled 1.7 billion minutes during the month, with Hulu delivering the highest duration of video ads at 454 million minutes. Video ads reached 42 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 30 times during the month. Hulu also delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 48 over the course of the month.

There will be several sessions that will cover video content at SES New York 2011, which starts next week. Check them out:

Developing Great Content — Five years ago, “developing great content” meant creating a useful, information-rich site, and writing pages that clearly and accurately describe your content. With the move to universal search in May 2007, “developing great content” was redefined to include creating videos, images, news, and maps. And with the introduction of realtime search in December 2009, “developing great content” was redefined again to include creating blog posts and live updates on popular sites like Twitter and FriendFeed. This session will explore the innovative strategies and up-to-the-second tactics for developing a full range of great content.

Social Media Solutions on a Budget — Don’t be frustrated by the overwhelming world of social media marketing! You don’t have to be a Fortune 500 company to be social media relevant. Getting your company or organization started with social media doesn’t have to be a pricey proposition. There is a wealth of great free to low cost tools and strategies that can you have up and running in no time. By leveraging these great resources you can use social media to drive new business, create awareness, and get you engaged with your target audience.

Next Gen YouTube Marketing — The internet’s second most popular search engine can be a tough Tube to crack but not with this advanced team of video SEOs and marketers. Do you really have to blend an iPhone or sit on a horse backwards pitching shower gel to have a successful video marketing campaign? This session will answer those questions and more by sharing successful video marketing case studies, specific advanced optimization tactics and YouTube networking advice that can help boost your next video marketing projects to the next level.