According to Nielsen Online, YouTube continued to rank as the No. 1 video Web brand with 5.5 billion total streams in April. Meanwhile, Hulu continued its explosive growth, increasing 490 percent in total streams year-over-year, from 63.2 million in April 2008 to 373.3 million in April 2009, making it the fastest growing brand among the top 10 Jon Gibs, vice president, media & analytics, Nielsen Online, said "Historically short form, clip-length video has ruled streaming on the Web... Hulu, along with pure-play providers... have spent the past two years trying to convince consumers that the Internet can be a good place to watch full length programming... April's strong showings... suggest that consumers are beginning to listen." Top Online Video Brands by Total Streams (April 2009 U.S., Home and Work) Video Brand Apr-09 Total Streams (000) Month-over-Month % Change Year-over-Year % Change Share of Streams Overall Online Video Usage 9,452,996 -2.3% 24.2% 100.0% YouTube 5,490,204 0.2% 35.5% 58.1% Hulu 373,290 7.1% 490.4% 3.9% Yahoo! 203,628 -12.2% -8.1% 2.2% Fox Interactive Media 201,362 -3.0% -38.8% 2.1% Nickelodeon Kids and Family Network 175,917 -10.3% 15.9% 1.9% MSN/Windows Live 164,422 -2.7% 9.8% 1.7% ABC.COM 148,830 -15.9% 144.8% 1.6% MTV Networks Music 143,356 15.7% 359.6% 1.5% Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network 130,559 -5.1% 60.0% 1.4% CNN Digital Network 112,469 8.7% 32.7% 1.2% Source: Nielsen VideoCensus May 2009 Note: Includes progressive downloads and excludes video advertising. In April, people between the ages of 35 and 49, were the fastest growing demographic in time spent viewing per viewer, increasing 29% during the past six months. This was 13 percentage points higher than the growth of time spent per viewer for the overall market, which increased 16 percent over the same period. Gibs added, "... it is not the young, tech-savvy, early-adopters who are attracted to long-form video... the older crowd, viewers 35+... gravitate toward longform video... . "And advertisers are paying attention... recognizing that their key audiences... are more willing to sit through an online advertisement... much as they do with the TV." Growth in Time Spent Viewing per Viewer over the Past 6-Months (Demographic Group U.S., Home and Work) Nov-08 Time per Viewer (minutes)Apr-09 Time per Viewer (minutes)% Change Over 6 Months Total 178 206 16% Male 209 249 19% Female 151 170 12% 2 - 11 113 116 3% 12 - 17 178 190 7% 18 - 24 303 349 15% 25 - 34 253 296 17% 35 - 49 187 243 29% 50 - 64 122 139 14% 65+ 67 81 21% Source: Nielsen VideoCensus In April 2009, three of the top five sites-Hulu, ABC.com and NBC.com-ranked by time spent viewing among people 35 to 49 were sites with long-form video. Compared to six months ago, only one of the top five was a long-form video viewing destination. Top 5 Sites for People Aged 35-49 Ranked by Time Spent Viewing (April 2009 and November 2008, U.S., Home and Work) Nov-08Apr-09Site Time Spent Viewing (000) Site Time Spent Viewing (000) YouTube 2,740,328 YouTube 2,983,430 Hulu 372,407 Hulu 933,252 Megavideo 225,325 ABC.COM 313,483 CNN Digital Network 153,705 NBC.com 215,302 Nickelodeon Kids and Family Network 143,086 CNN Digital Network 187,471 Source: Nielsen VideoCensus Since its inception as a joint-venture between NBC and News Corp, Hulu has experienced meteoric growth in all aspects of video viewing, especially in time spent. Helping to drive this impressive growth for Hulu are unique viewers between 35 and 49, who in April, spent more time on the site than any other age group, 10 percent more than any other demographic group on Hulu. During the past six months, time spent per viewer for the 35 to 49 demographic group has increased 154 percent. Growth in Time Spent Viewing per Viewer over the Past 6-Months for Hulu (U.S.,Home and Work) Age GroupNov-08 Time perViewer (min)Apr-09 Time per Viewer(min) % Change Over 6 Months 2 - 11 50 122 143% 12 - 17 78 129 65% 18 - 24 151 379 151% 25 - 34 237 353 49% 35 - 49 164 416 154% 50 - 64 100 284 184% 65+ 27 151 232% Source: Nielsen VideoCensus To read more about the report in PDF format, please visit Nielsen Online here.