Online video continued its meteoric rise in March, as the U.S. audience rose 2 percent to 130 million unique viewers, who consumed 9.7 billion streams ñ a 9 percent increase from February, according to TVWeek, citing Nielsen Online data.
YouTube, unsurprisingly, was the most popular video destination, with 5.5 billion streams and 89 million unique visitors. However, the numbers from runner-up Hulu were somewhat shocking Despite a marketing push and increased interest from premium advertisers, Hulu had just 8.8 million uniques in March — more than half a million less than it had in February (9.4 million).
Meanwhile, the CBS-backed TV.com appears to be breathing down Hulu’s neck. The website enjoyed 7.5 million unique visitors in March, thanks largely to coverage of the NCAA basketball tournament, according to NewTeeVee.
Other promising signs for marketers include the fact that users were spending more time watching video. The total number of minutes of video consumer per viewer grew to 190.7 minutes — more than three hours — according to the Nielsen data.