• March 25, 2009

Thanks largely to February having three fewer days, U.S. Internet users viewed 13.1 billion online videos during the month -- representing a decline of 12% versus January -- according to new Video Metrix data released Tuesday by comScore.

As usual, YouTube.com comprised the largest share within the U.S. market, accounting for 41% of online videos viewed and just under 100 million unique viewers.

As a result, Google sites continued to rank as the top U.S. video property with 5.3 billion videos viewed -- 41% online video market share -- with YouTube.com accounting for more than 99% of all videos viewed at the property.

Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 463 million videos -- 3.5% --followed by Yahoo sites with 353 million -- 2.7% -- Hulu with 333 million -- 2.5% -- and Microsoft sites with 259 million -- 2%.

Notably, Hulu -- the joint video venture between NBC Universal and News Corp. -- climbed two positions in the ranking to number four, after experiencing a 33% jump in video views on the heels of its Super Bowl commercial at the outset of the month.

Overall, more than 145 million U.S. Internet users watched an average of 90 videos per viewer in February.--Gavin O'Malley