Hulu grows 490%

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Nielsen Online says YouTube continued to rank as the No. 1 video Web brand with 5.5 billion total streams in April. Meanwhile, Hulu continued its explosive growth trajectory, increasing 490% in total streams year-over-year, from 63.2 million in April 2008 to 373.3 million in April 2009, making it the fastest growing brand among the top 10 (see Table 1).


“Historically short form, clip-length video has ruled streaming on the Web―as demonstrated by YouTube’s top spot month after month. Hulu, along with pure-play providers like Veoh and the TV networks, have spent the past two years trying to convince consumers that the Internet can be a good place to watch full length programming as well. April’s strong showings of Hulu, Fox, and ABC suggest that consumers are beginning to listen,” said Jon Gibs, vice president, media & analytics, Nielsen Online.

Table 1: Top Online Video Brands Ranked by Total Streams for April 2009, Including
Their Month-over-Month and Year-over-Year Growth (U.S., Home and Work)

Video Brand

Apr-09 Total Streams (000)

Month-over-Month % Change

Year-over-Year % Change

Share of Streams

Overall Online Video Usage

9,452,996

-2.3%

24.2%

100.0%

YouTube

5,490,204

0.2%

35.5%

58.1%

Hulu

373,290

7.1%

490.4%

3.9%

Yahoo!

203,628

-12.2%

-8.1%

2.2%

Fox Interactive Media

201,362

-3.0%

-38.8%

2.1%

Nickelodeon Kids and Family Network

175,917

-10.3%

15.9%

1.9%

MSN/Windows Live

164,422

-2.7%

MTV Networks Music

143,356

15.7%

359.6%

1.5%

Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network

130,559

-5.1%

60.0%

1.4%

CNN Digital Network

112,469

8.7%

32.7%

1.2%

Source: Nielsen VideoCensus
Note: Includes progressive downloads and excludes video advertising.

In April 2009, people between the ages of 35 and 49 were the fastest growing demographic in time spent viewing per viewer, increasing 29% during the past six months. This was 13%age points higher than the growth of time spent viewing per viewer for the overall market, which increased 16% over the same 6-month period (see Table 2).

“Despite what many believe, it is not the young, tech-savvy, early-adopters who are attracted to long-form video. In fact, we see that it is the older crowd, viewers 35+, who gravitate toward long-form video, with sites like Hulu acting as a perfect example of this,” said Gibs. “And advertisers are paying attention. They see long-form video sites like Hulu as a safe bet for online advertising, recognizing that their key audiences are there and more willing to sit through an online advertisement while watching a favorite show, much as they do with the TV.”

Table 2: Growth in Time Spent Viewing per Viewer over the Past 6-Months by
Demographic Group (U.S., Home and Work)

 

Nov-08 Time per Viewer (min)

Apr-09 Time per Viewer (min)

% Change Over 6 Months

Total

178

206

16%

Male

209

249

19%

Female

151

170

12%

2 – 11

113

116

3%

12 – 17

178

190

7%

18 – 24

303

349

15%

25 – 34

253

296

17%

35 – 49

187

243

29%

50 – 64

122

139

14%

65+

67

81

21%

Source: Nielsen VideoCensus