Audience for video sharing sites nearly doubles

In December 2006 only 33% of users said they had visited a video sharing site; that is an increase of 45% year over year. About 15% of the respondents in 2007 said they had visited a video sharing site the day prior to the survey; in 2006 only 8% said the same thing.

This is a very large growth span for the year and an indication that online video is continuing to increase in popularity. While growth such as the 45% increase cannot continue indefinitely, it is clear that users are becoming accustomed to visiting these sites on a regular basis. This means that advertisers will soon have even more reach into the audience segment.

As online video continues to grow, though, advertisers will need to grow their own video capabilities and increase their targeting methods. Sponsoring video content or segments will likely become a large part of the video ad spends. Advertisers will also need to have unique ideas for their online ads.

While consumers have indicated that watching video ads rather than paying for content is preferred, if the ads offered aren't engaging, users will tune them out.

Tags: online video, video advertising