Video ads rake in the revs as online video surges

Video ad impressions reached record numbers in March 2012, topping 8 billion for the first time on record as online video continues its upward trajectory, according to the data analyst comScore.

Overall, according to the latest comScore Video Metrix, 181 million US Internet users watched nearly 37 billion online content videos in March, with, as ever, Google sites, principally  YouTube, amassing 146.1 million unique viewers. Google was followed by Yahoo! sites with 60.6 million, VEVO with 51.3 million, Facebook.com with 45.1 million and Viacom Digital with 44.3 million.

Of the nearly 37 billion video views that occurred during the month, Google sites generated 15.7 billion, followed by Hulu with 1 billion and Yahoo! sites with 815 million. In total, the average viewer watched 21.7 hours of online video content, with the highest average engagement derived from Google sites (7.1 hours) and Hulu (4.6 hours).

Yet what was most striking in the monthly assessment of the industry was just how much more rapidly this demand was being monetised. And in this regard the Hulu over-the-top subscription and ad-funded over-the-top (OTT) service put even Google in the shade, totalling a record  1.7 billion out of 8.3 billion video ads, half a billion more than generated by the IT search giant. Close behind was ad firm BrightRoll Video Network with 953 million, Adap.tv with 892 million and Specific Media with more than 775 million.

Time spent watching video ads totalled 3.5 billion minutes, with Hulu delivering the highest duration of video ads at 690 million minutes.

Overall, video ads reached 51% of the total US population an average of 53 times during the month. Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 51, while ESPN delivered an average of 26 ads per viewer.