YouTube is the confirmed king of online video in the US, but what about across the pond? According to the most recent Hitwise report, YouTube reigns in the UK as well. Matter of fact, online video traffic in the UK has increased 178% between February 2007 and 2008, with the top 25 video sites accounting for 2.22% of all UK Internet visits in February 2008.
YouTube unsurprisingly took the lion's share of the traffic, with the combined market share of its US and UK properties reaching 63.31% of all UK Internet visits for online video sites. That means YouTube and YouTube UK actually took the #1 and #2 spots on the Hitwise chart.
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Hitwise attributes YouTube's branding power to its growth in the UK market, which aligns with a UK YouGov study conducted last year. The very name of YouTube has become quite synonymous with online video, and that's a major reason why YouTube has been able to maintain its front-runner status.
Unlike the US, however, MySpace does not come in third place for online video. The BBC iPlayer is the next most visited video website in the UK during the month of February (does that have any indication on the future potential for Hulu in the US and the UK?), taking just under 6% of the market share. The branded player launched by the UK broadcast channel was initially met with dire reviews and angry consumers for the player's limited feature set, but the BBC has seemingly overcome the previous backlash and has risen to the #2 spot as an online video destination, increasing its market share by 423% since December 2007.
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