We Watch More YouTube Videos than We Conduct Google Searches

Now, we all know search is important. And we all know that Google is the leading search engine.

But here’s a factoid that continues to amaze marketers:

In August 2009, Americans watched 10 billion videos on YouTube. That same month, Americans conducted 9 billion searches on Google.

Yep, Americans watched a billion more YouTube videos than they conducted Google searches.

The data comes from comScore, a reputable source. And the reason that it may have flown under the radar screen is that it comes from two different reports.

The YouTube data comes from comScore Video Metrix, which reported that 120.5 million Americans watched an average of 82.6 videos per viewer.

The Google data comes from comScore qSearch, which reported that 169.2 million American conducted an average of 53.2 queries per searcher.

So, do you want to be found when someone conducts a search for a relevant term on Google? Of course you do.

But do you want to be found when someone looks for a relevant video on YouTube? You should.

A lot of marketers are trying to get their arms around social media — like Facebook and Twitter. These are both important. But YouTube is a video sharing site — which is also a form of social media.

And according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 62% of Internet users in the U.S. have watched video on a video sharing site. This compares to 46%, who have used a social networking site, and 11%, who have used Twitter.

So, why is YouTube often left off the marketing to-do list? It’s a mystery.

But, you can start to get your arms around the topic by watching the YouTube video below.

Greg Jarboe of SEO-PR discusses YouTube and Video Marketing at SES London 2009

You can also get a sense of why YouTube is neither fish nor fowl by reading the TubeMogul report entitled, “How do people discover videos online?” More than 45% of viewers find videos through direct navigation to a video site — i.e. going to YouTube and running a search or clicking around the featured or related videos. But more than 44% of viewers find videos embedded in blogs.

Finally, you can attend the YouTube & Video Optimization session at SES Chicago 2009. I’ll tackle this issue head on — and provide you with proven, practical guidelines for developing and implementing video marketing for your organization.

With more YouTube videos being watched in America than there are searches being conducted on Google, you will want to find out what it takes to get your videos discovered, watched and shared.