UK video traffic 'up 178%'

1st April 2008

UK online video traffic has increased by 178 per cent in the last 12 months, according to a new report.

On his Hitwise blog, Robin Goad has revealed that the sector expanded significantly last year, dominated by YouTube's US and UK properties.

Together, these represented 69.31 of all web visits to video sites between February 2007 and the same month in 2008.

A strong brand image was cited by Hitwise as a key driver of the Google-owned video streaming site's popularity.

The fourth and fifth most popular search terms in the UK in February were 'youtube' and 'you tube', data from the web traffic monitoring service showed.

Meanwhile, the BBC's iPlayer was the third most popular video site, increasing its market share by 423 per cent since December 2007.

And MySpace TV, the fourth most prominent video site, was said by Mr Goad to indicate the link between video and social networking.

The news came after it emerged that ITV is relaunching its online video player to compete more effectively with the iPlayer.