• Bottom-line: Google Video is no match for YouTube

    Originally published on the Compete Blog on 5 Oct 2006
    YouTube vs Google Video

    Yes, I confess. I am a YouTube AND Google Video addict. Heck, so are a lot of other people! In August, 23.7 million US people visited YouTube, while 7.8 million people visited Google Video.

    Do I think one service is better than the other? Absolutely. Which one you ask? YouTube for sure. Why? It’s just better. It has a more involved community, more obscure videos, more interesting videos, better interface, faster uploads, and of course – YouTube IS home to LonelyGirl15. Need I say more?

    But seriously, enough of what I think. What is the people’s verdict?

    • Back in November 2005, Google Video was more popular than YouTube. A whopping 400,000 more people visited Google Video.
    • In August, 15.9 million more people used YouTube vs Google Video! Quite a turn-around!
    • YouTube has grown 483% since January, while Google Video has grown 279%. Wow.
    • Verdict: YouTube is the clear winner in terms of Visitors to the site.

    • People come back to YouTube.. again and again. In August, on average each YouTube user visited the site 4 times over the course of the month. While Google Video visitors returned just 1.6 times.
    • Verdict: YouTube is the clear winner in terms of Frequency of Visits.

    • In August, on average YouTuber’s spent 10 minutes on the site each time they visited, while Google visitors spent around 8 minutes.
    • Verdict: YouTube is again the clear winner in terms of Average Stay per Session.
    Bottom-line:

    More people visit YouTube, they come back to the site more often, and spend more time on the site each time they visit. That is a certifiable triple whammy and a knockout punch rolled into one. The winner of this battle is clearly YouTube by a mile, and then some!

    See NYTimes, Mark Cuban, AVC, Paul K., for additional commentary and opinions.