According to the latest data from Nielsen Online (PDF), overall online video usage in April declined slightly compared to March (-2.3%), and all the major players, except for Youtube (+0.2%) and Hulu (+7.1%) saw the number of video streams on their sites decline. The real winner here, though, is MTV, which streamed 15.7% more videos in April than in March, and which has grown 359.6% year-over-year.
Interestingly, Disney-owned ABC.com, which just struck a deal to syndicate its videos on Hulu, saw the largest decline in streams since March, with a 15.9% drop in total streams.
MTV
Given that few of us here at RWW fall into MTV’s demographic, we are just as puzzled as Peter Kafka at AllThingsD about the rapid growth of MTV’s streaming video business. MTV grew faster than any other of its competitors among the Top 10 online video streaming sites. While MTV just launched its streaming video service in Japan, Nielsen’s data is for the U.S. only. Looking at MTV’s site though, there can be no doubt that MTV has made streaming video the center of its online strategy – and apparently this strategy is paying off.
Older Users Drive Hulu’s Growth
On Hulu, according to Nielsen, the time users spent on the service increased by 119% since last November, mostly driven by the impressive growth that Hulu saw among users between 35 and 49. These users now make up 30% of Hulu’s viewership and they spend far more time on Hulu than most other demographics (416 minutes per month – 10% more than any other group).
