haha!

WOAH!

When I was writing my Google Video vs. YouTube analysis (maybe someone at Google read the analysis and acted on it ;-)), YouTube’s growth trajectory simply astounded me, which in turn compelled me to compare it against – MySpace.com – another viral phenomenon.

Here is what I discovered:

In the chart above, YouTube when compared to MySpace doesn’t look too impressive. In August, YouTube was less than half the size of MySpace.

Now take a look at the chart below. In this chart, YouTube is IMPRESSIVE! YouTube’s growth has vastly outpaced that of MySpace in its early days. Makes me wonder how much YouTube is going to grow in the next 12, 6, or even 3 months. In August, YouTube was the 18th most popular website in the United States.

Bottom-line:

Will YouTube break the Top 10 within 12 months (~50 million visitors)? I think it is more likely that YouTube will hit that milestone than not. We’ll just have to wait and watch.

Direct link to article(s):

• MarketWatch #1 – Online video running wild (Oct 7, 2006)
• MarketWatch #2 – Google seen in talks to buy YouTube (Oct 6, 2006)
• MorningStar – Google reportedly in talks to acquire video site YouTube (Oct 6, 2006) – same as above

The list of buyout candidates include Revver Inc., which unlike YouTube has in place a revenue-generating model and has a much better track record when it comes to navigating copyright restrictions, said Jay Meattle, an associate with Compete Inc.