36% rise in UK online video watching

According to new data from Experian, UK consumers spend 240m hours per month watching videos online. In general, the number of visits to Internet video platforms has grown by 36% year-on-year in September, reaching 785m.

The boom is largely due to growth in visits to the YouTube site, which is currently the third most visited web page in the UK after Facebook and Google. It accounts for over two-thirds of visits to all video sites, with the average session on YouTube lasting for about 20 minutes.

Other frequently visited video sites are video-on-demand services from BBC iPlayer and ITV Player. In total, UK web users visit video sites 18 times a month on average, while 86% report doing so at least once monthly.

Consumers are mostly interested in music, with 33% of searches related to specific artists and songs. TV-related content, like videos from EastEnders, Britain’s Got Talent and X-Factor rank second, with 17% of searches, followed by movie trailers and new games’ trailers and walkthrough cheats, standing at 11% and 10% of the searches, respectively.

Many brand marketers are considering the growing opportunities provided by video platforms and capitalising on the increased traffic, as figures show that at present they accumulate more visits than email providers, sports and travel sites.