Viewers spend more time in front of a TV in a single day than they do a whole month with online video but one day...

Surprised? But this is the bigger picture and important because it keeps things in perspective. This is how it is today. Consumers watched 10 billion online videos in December (comScore) . People watched an average of 3.4 hours of online during the month, up 34% from January 2007. TV audiences are shrinking. They are still big and can be huge (like the recent Superbowl numbers prove) but TV has a new competitor. The 10 billion videos watched online in December was the highest total since comScore started keeping track of the stat a year ago. Apple knows this. Apple has applied for a patent that allows widgets to be displayed on TV when you're watching Apple TV . So imagine watching a movie and a small search widget (with advertising embedded in it of course) can be displayed if you want it that allows you to look for any actor or production person in the movie you are watching or reference other info at IMDB, for example. Or give you the ability to chat, read news feeds, get sports scores, etc. What a nice way to integrate the internet with TV viewing. Unobtrusive, but there.

"With the writer's strike keeping new TV episodes from reaching the airwaves, viewers have been seeking alternatives for fresh content. It appears that online video is stepping in to help fill that void." This is what the Exec VP at comScore was quoted as saying. I'm not so sure that the writer's strike had too much to do with these numbers.

The growth in video on the web had been steadily increasing year after year. Consumers are spending less and less time watching TV - and that's been happening now for many, many years - consistently. This is a trend that is not going away anytime soon.

10 years from today, these numbers will look funny, but for now here is what they look like:

Google Sites once again ranked as the top U.S. video property in December with 3.3 billion videos viewed (32.6 percent share of videos), gaining 1.3 share points versus the previous month. YouTube.com accounted for more than 97 percent of all videos viewed at the property. Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 358 million (3.5 percent), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 340 million (3.4 percent) and Viacom Digital with 238 million (2.3 percent).

I wonder if you'll be able to get an Apple widget on a Google Panasonic TV set next year? Hmmmm, that will be interesting.

Top U.S. Online Video Properties* by Videos Viewed
   December 2007
   Total U.S. -- Home/Work/University Locations
   Source: comScore Video Metrix

   Property                         Videos               Share (%) of
                                     (000)                   Videos

   Total Internet                10,156,199                 100.0
   Google Sites                   3,314,962                  32.6
   Fox Interactive Media            358,353                   3.5
   Yahoo! Sites                     340,409                   3.4
   Viacom Digital                   237,689                   2.3
   Microsoft Sites                  180,443                   1.8
   Time Warner Network              174,079                   1.7
   Disney Online                    123,009                   1.2
   ESPN                              84,839                   0.8
   Apple Inc.                        50,316                   0.5
   ABC.COM                           47,259                   0.5

   * Rankings based on video content sites; excludes video server networks.
     Online video includes both streaming and progressive downloads