comScore: Video surges as major news stories break

For perhaps the first time, a link has been seen between news headlines and online video viewing. comScore researchers found in June that major and breaking news headlines drove a surge in video viewing as more than 157 million viewers logged on.

by Kristina Knight

Michael Jackson's death along with the Iran election scandal were two of the most searched for/viewed clips. With ">157 million consumers watching a clip in June, that makes this the largest viewing audience ever for a single month.

The big hitters for video were Google (including YouTube) sites with a 39% share or just over 7.6 billion viewers. Viacom ranked second with 7.7 million viewers (4% share), followed by Microsoft Sites (6.9 million viewers, 3.6% share). Blinkx (3.2% share) and Fox Interactive Media (3.1% share) filled out the top five sites.

Viewers watched an average of 124 clips for the month. Just over 80% of the total US online audience watched a clip in June with the average viewer watching more than 450 minutes of content (7.6 hours). What is interesting for marketers is that viewers on the Hulu.com site, which shows full-length episodes of traditional television programs watched more than 10 different clips and spend more than an hour with clips on the site.

Tags: comScore, online video, video advertising, video clips, video engagement, video length