YouTube Dominant In Video Search, Now an Acquisition Target?

The short answer is "yes." The site -- shall we call it the "MySpace" of video :) -- is now the dominant destination for online video search, according to a press release out today from Hitwise. YouTube has an almost 50% market share.

Here's the traffic breakdown:

• YouTube ? 42.94%
  
• MySpace Videos ? 24.22%
  
• Yahoo! Video Search ? 9.58%
  
• MSN Video Search ? 9.21%
  
• Google Video Search ? 6.48%
  
• AOL Video ? 4.28%
  
• iFilm (owned by MTV/Viacom) ? 2.28%

Perhaps then we should call it the "Google of video"? (Google video is #5.) It doesn't really matter what analogy one uses, YouTube is going to be bought by one of the big players, or rather they will attempt to buy it. The stakes (and potential, future revenues) are just too high in this rapidly developing arena.

You can read more on my blog.

Also, Hitwise has some trending charts on video search and page views in YouTube vs. MySpace Video - Comparing Visits and Page Views.

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