Comscore reported on Friday that a record 10 Billion (with a B) videos were viewed on the Internet during December, one-third on which were viewed on Google owned properties.
I suppose that I accounted for about twenty or so of those viewers, as I continue to follow the progress and growth of Hulu.com, the joint video venture of NBC and FOX that has grown exponentially in the past couple of months. Now, with MUCH more content as well as video from years gone by, and numerous 'cool clips' and full episodes. Hulu is still in closed Beta but just threw a few 'invites' at some users. (I have ten - If you want one, just tell me who you are, what you do, and drop a request to the e-mail at the bottom of the page, send me a note on Facebook, or a private message on Twitter or Pownce.
I have to wonder if Comscore's report would have been different if Hulu was open to the public at this stage, although with so many 'embedded' YouTube videos, it's doubtful. Once again, Google has shown that whether it's Adsense, maps, or videos, they have reached out and simply made it easy for webmasters to embed their products into individual websites worldwide, driving traffic right back.
The Comscore report also notes that the writers strike could be driving people to the web and video. Earlier this week, there were numerous reports quoting Michael Eisner saying the strike was a 'done deal'. The fact is that a proposed deal is being presented to the rank and file later today. The tentative deal is close, according to WGA Presidents Patric Verrone and Michael Winship in a post to the WGA blog Wednesday. You can follow the progress of the Writer Strike on Twitter here.
Finally, as many of you know, this blog launched 6 months ago as a little 'test', and a little fun. The Feedburner numbers are telling a 'pleasing' story and TechMeMe picked us up 8 times in the past 10 days which was extremely gratifying.
Update Sat Jan 9, 2008 2 PM EST: The New York Times is reporting that a tentative deal in the writers strike has been reached. The piece is here
Thanks to all and have a great weekend!
Charlie Anzman