Online video makes up an increasing component of Internet user activity. According to a comScore Video Metrix report, Americans viewed more than 9 billion videos online during July 2007.

The report also notes:

• Online viewers watched an average of more than three hours of online video during the month (181 minutes).
• The average online video duration was 2.7 minutes.
• Nearly three out of four (74.2 percent) U.S. Internet users viewed video online.
• More than one out of three (36.7 percent) U.S. Internet users viewed video on YouTube.com.
• The average online video viewer consumed 68 videos, or more than two per day.

The report highlights that nearly 75 percent of U.S. Internet users watched an average of three hours of online video during July and 134 million Americans —or approximately three in four U.S. Internet users—viewed online video. Google Sites ranked as the top U.S. video property with nearly 2.5 billion videos viewed (27.0 percent share of videos), 2.4 billion of which occurred at YouTube.com. Yahoo! Sites ranked second with 390 million (4.3 percent), followed by Fox Interactive Media with 298 million (3.3 percent) and Viacom Digital with 281 million (3.1 percent).

While some have challenged the report’s data and language, we can take a few away from it. For one, the comScore findings are further evidence of the growing online video trend; Americans are spending a large portion of their time online watching video clips. Second, the report demonstrates that Google and MySpace are continuing their successful audience aggregation in the video segment, which has implications for big media companies. Some of these media companies, such as ABC and NBC, seem to be catching on and looking for ways to ensure that their content is accessible and appealing to Internet users. The question remains however, can Google replicate its own financial success, leveraging audience aggregation in the video category as it has done so profitably with search?