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comScore: Primetime Video Streaming 5-8 p.m.; Google Top Video Property

Nearly 123 million people in the U.S. (70 percent of the U.S. internet audience) viewed 7.2 billion videos online in January, according to comScore’s Video Metrix service (via MarketingVox). On average, each video streamer viewed 59 streams - nearly two videos per day - and viewed 151 minutes of video online during the month; average viewing time per video was 2.6 minutes.

Google was the top streaming video property in January, as measured by total unique streamers (54.7 million) and total video streams initiated (1.167 billion). Google’s YouTube.com alone accounted for 992 million video streams initiated.

comScore’s analysis of U.S. video consumption by daypart showed that people were more likely to view video on weekdays than on the weekend. Peak relative viewing - 60 percent higher than average - occurred between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. on weekdays.

That’s just as traditional TV prime-time usage begins to ramp up, according to MediaPost, which cites Nielsen data, according to which traditional TV primetime, which occurs from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. every day except Sunday (7 p.m. to 11 p.m.), has been stable for the past several years, accounting for about 23 percent of all daily viewing.

Meanwhile, the highest relative video consumption on weekends occurred between 7:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m., when streamers viewed 31 percent more video than average.

“Marketers have a great opportunity to leverage Internet video in conjunction with their traditional TV buy and essentially double their ‘primetime’ commercial airing hours,” said Erin Hunter, executive vice president of comScore. “‘Primetime’ TV viewing occurs between 8:00 and 11:00 P.M., while ‘primetime’ viewing of online video occurs during the preceding block of time – between 5:00 and 8:00 P.M. on weekdays. Shrewd marketers will utilize a multi-channel strategy to capitalize on these adjacent ‘primetime’ blocks in order to maximize their marketing impact.”

comScore Video Metrix measures online video content served through all major formats, including Flash, RealPlayer, Windows Media, QuickTime and DivX. The service, which is based on streaming activity among U.S. Internet users, does not include measurement of digital rights management (DRM) content (which is paid, encrypted content), online videos viewed through peer-to-peer (P2P) applications, or offline viewing of video content.