178 million Americans watched 33 billion videos in December

Nearly 178 million U.S. Internet users watched 33.2 billion online videos during December 2009, according to the latest data from comScore Vedio Metrix.

This means Americans watched an average of 187 videos per viewer during the month.

Here are some other related stats from comScore's announcement:

• 86.5 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video in December.
• 134.4 million viewers watched more than 13 billion videos on YouTube.com -- 97.1 videos per viewer.
• 44.9 million viewers watched 423.3 million videos on MySpace Sites -- 9.4 videos per viewer.
• The average Hulu viewer watched 22.9 videos, totaling 2.2 hours of videos per viewer.
• The duration of the average online video was 4.1 minutes.

Back as SES New York 2008, I interviewed Mike McDonald of WebProNews about the humble beginnings of his e-business internet video channel and some of its funnier moments of adolescence, like forgetting to hit record.

Mike McDonald of WebProNews, Web Video Guru, at SES NY 2008

But WebProNews Videos and the rest of the search industry have come a long way since then. I discussed these trends with Abby Johnson of WebProNews at SES Chicago 2008.

Abby Johnson, WebProNews, discusses the top trends at SES Chicago

And Lee Odden of TopRank Online Marketing discussed strategies for YouTube video optimization with Steve Grove of YouTube at SES San Jose 2009.

Steve Grove, YouTube and Lee Odden, TopRank on YouTube video optimization, SES San Jose 2009

So, the record levels on online video viewing in December won't surprise anyone who has attended Search Engine Strategies over the past two years.

But, it's not too late to join them.

At SES London 2010, I'll be teaching the YouTube and Video Marketing Workshop on Friday, February 19, the day after the conference.

I'll be talking about YouTube & Video Optimization at SES San Diego 2010.

And Zack Rogers of ClickZ will be moderating a keynote panel on Video: The Next Digital Marketing Frontier at SES New York 2010.

So, if you haven't gotten your arms around the marketing opportunity that YouTube and online video represents, then run, don't walk, to the event nearest you. Hey, this is bigger than a breadbox.

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Register now for SES London 2012, the Leading Search & Social Marketing Event, taking place 20-24 February, 2012. SES Conference & Expo features presentations and panel discussions that cover all aspects of search engine-related promotion. Hurry, early bird rate expires February 3!