• by Daisy Whitney , Op-Ed Contributor, November 2, 2012

The number of online video ads viewed in September held steady from the prior month at about 9.4 billion. That’s a small, but promising sign, for the online video business because, despite the regular prognostications of video ad spending growth, the number of ads actually viewed has been on a downward slide since June, according to comScore’s monthly figures.

The research firm said that in September more than 181 million Web users watched more than 39 billion videos and 9.4 billion video ads. That compares to 188 million Internet users watching 37.7 billion videos and 9.5 billion video ads in August. The number of ad views started sliding after the record June with 11 billion video ads. In July, the number of video ads dipped to 9.6 billion, and then to 9.5 billion in August. The dip was likely attributable to expected seasonal declines in viewing, especially as TV — which is the most successful genre in selling video ads online — headed into summer reruns. Still, with shows coming back on air in September, I’d have expected a more significant rise in ad views last month.

Even so, the market is still growing year over year — the 9.4 billion video ad views last month is a 38% rise over the 6.8 billion video ad views in September 2011.

In September 2012, Google topped the ads viewed list due to YouTube with 1.8 billion video ads seen, followed by BrightRoll with more than 1.3 billion, Hulu with 1.2 billion, Liverail with more than 1.1 billion and Adap.tv with 1 billion. Compare that to September 2011 when Hulu was the only site serving up more than 1 billion video ads. YouTube wasn’t even in the top 10 a year ago for ads delivered.

However, YouTube saw its market share for videos viewed decline with 13.1 billion videos viewed in September, down from 18.6 billion a year ago. Don’t cry for YouTube though. Despite that dip in market share, YouTube remained steady in ads served with nearly 1.8 billion, about the same as in August, and a rise from July and June, suggesting the biggest video site is still on track to grow ad revenue.