MORE AMERICANS WATCHING VIDEO ONLINE

By December of last year, Americans were spending a record 14 hours per month watching online video, up 12 percent from a year ago, researchers comScore reported today (Tuesday) in its annual Digital Year in Review. While YouTube continued to represent the go-to site for most online video — “YouTube” was the second-most-Googled word during the year, behind “Facebook,” comScore noted — Hulu and the major television networks continued to amass online viewers. In the fourth quarter of the year, comScore said, “Hulu accounted for 19.4 billion minutes (323 million hours) of online TV viewing, up 17 percent from the previous year. The five major broadcast TV sites (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and the CW) combined to account for 9.7 billion minutes (162 million hours).” But while Hulu grew 17 percent from the previous year, the networks grew 80 percent. Together Hulu and the networks rose 33 percent. “This strongly growing market,” the report concluded, “represents one of the most significant opportunities for advertisers.”