YouTube Smashes UK Traffic

The online video sharing service YouTube is a real market hit in the UK because no less than 80 percent of the country's residents are interested in online clips according to a recent market study conducted by comScore. The study revealed that 80 percent of the Brits are accessing online clips compared to 76 percent in US, 79 percent in France and 70 percent in Germany.

Obviously, Google attracted most of the users with 16 unique video streamers and downloaders and 38 video streams per streamer. In comparison with Google, Fox Interactive Media recorded only 4.7 unique video streamers and downloaders and 6 video streams per streamer.

"With 8 out of 10 people initiating a stream in the U.K., streaming is clearly mainstream and one of the more popular things to do online - up there with search, email and shopping," stated Bob Ivins, EVP and managing director of comScore Europe. "What is particularly striking is the fact that those consumers are accessing 16 to18 streams more, per month, than their counterparts in the U.S., France or Germany, perhaps indicating that the U.K. is further along the adoption curve in enjoying streamed video."

The study revealed that 38 percent of the streams (608.1 million) were recorded by the Google websites such as Google Video or YouTube, while Yahoo received only 57.7 million streams. The research was conducted on age 15 or older UK residents and excluded traffic made by Internet cafes or handheld devices.

Google acquired YouTube in October 2006 for $1.65 billion and, since then, the online video sharing service's traffic was boosted by a huge number of visitors. Take for example the Viacom lawsuit when the MTV owner demanded the removal of 100.000 clips from the page because the parent company Google uploaded them without authorization. Soon after the removal was started, YouTube sustained its traffic was boosted as numerous visitors are attracted by homemade content.