Video-sharing sites vie for user attention

With all talk leading to online video, it is no wonder that advertisers are wondering which online video sites are the best options for their advertising dollars. comScore has released a listing of smaller and niche video sites that could offer alternatives for advertisers.

by Kristina Knight

Erin Hunter, executive vice president of media and entertainment solutions is predicting that French-based DailyMotion.com will be the next hot thing. “While it will clearly be very difficult for any video site to replicate what YouTube has accomplished, Dailymotion.com is stating the strongest case at the moment, both domestically and internationally,” she said.

DailyMotion.com scored 4.7 million users in April. Those users initiated 47 million video streams. Another hot commodity for online video is MetaCafe.com with 3.7 million users and 33 million video streams. Break.com is predicted to be a strong force in online video with 3.1 million users and 32 million streams. Two other sites advertisers should take note of are Heavy Networks (2.6 million visitors and 5 million video streams) and Revver.com (2.6 million visitors and 8.7 million video streams).

Monetizing the websites will be the largest obstacle. Many of these video platforms have not determined how to add advertising, which is a hindrance. However, with the coveted age range of 18-34 year olds frequenting these sites in growing numbers the need to monetize online video is growing fast.