YouTube tops 100 videos per viewer
YouTube’s domination of the online video space continues to expand, with a record 14.6 billion videos viewed. The user-generated-content giant topped 100 videos per viewer as well, another record.
Overall, 85 percent of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online videos, comScore said in its report for the latest month, May.
The DIY site YouTube, of course, is never challenged in total views (where it’s reported as “Google Sites”), despite the fact that its rivals all feature professionally produced content such as TV shows and films.
YouTube outscored closest competitor Hulu 14.6 billion views to 1.2 billion.
Hulu’s total is actually less than the number of views YouTube added since the April report. Hulu had 3.5 percent of overall online videos viewed.
In unique visitors, the top three were Yahoo/Google (144 million), Yahoo (46 million) and Vevo (45.5 million).
Vevo continues to surge, jumping a position on the uniques chart and adding about 10 million views since April.
While YouTube landed at 101 videos played per viewer, Hulu had 27. No mystery: Hulu’s content extends to hourlong dramas, while YouTube videos are short by design.
Here are the top online video destinations by number of views (rounded numbers):
- Google sites (YouTube): 14.billion/43.1 percent share
- Hulu: 1.17 billion/3.5
- Microsoft sites: 642 million videos viewed/1.9 percent share
- Vevo: 430 million/1.3
- Viacom Digital 347 million/1.0
- Yahoo sites: 336 million/1.0
- CBS Interactive: 333 million/1.0
- Turner Interactive: 332 million/1.0
- Fox Interactive: 328.5 million/1.0
Mac mini gets HDMI, promo push for TV
How about a robust home media center for $699? You got it, sort of.
Apple just revamped its Mac mini line, adding HDMI ports for high definition output. That means Hulu, Netflix Watch Instantly, YouTube, the iTunes store and the rest of the gang appearing nightly on your big-screen TV, without hassles or compromises.
Meanwhile, the old school Apple TV device is doing a disappearing act on the company’s retail site, amid rumors that a $99 version of the set-top box is in the wings — supposedly “an iPhone without a screen.” (Tech Crunch points out that the old Apple TV box is listed as an iPod accessory now …. WTF.)
Steve Jobs addressed the marriage of computers and TVs the other day, giving no hint of the mini plan. He was downbeat on chances for a successful set-top box. “I’m sure smarter people than us will figure this out,” he said. Stay tuned for Apple’s real home-entertainment strategy, a mystery so far.
The new Mac mini should play nicely with the current home entertainment center. The aluminum “unibody” shell (like the checks in at a sleek 1.4 inch height. No dingo balls, just an optical drive in front, for DVDs, CDs. Sorry, it doesn’t play Blu-rays.
In back, in addition to the HDMI plug-in, there’s a mini display port and a SD slot for pictures and home videos. Audio output comes via a minijack, nothing more serious, although audio also flows via the HDMI set-up. The power brick is gone, too, replaced by your standard household plug. (Also Firewire and USB ports, of course.)
The HDMI supports up to 1920×1200 resolution, way more than modern man requires. Apple says there’s “a handy control that lets you easily adjust the output … to fill even the biggest HDTV screen.” The graphic capabilities also benefit from an upgrade targeted at gamers.
The new Mac minis come with 2.4 or 2.66 Intel Core 2 Duo chips, depending on what you spend. Up to 8GB of system memory, with additional cards easily inserted via a round detachable panel on the bottom of the box.
Update: Macworld has a crisp write-up on the pros and cons of using the Mac mini as a media server.
Jobs: Interactive TV a sucker’s play
Apple chieftain Steve Jobs says the marriage of the Internet and television won’t be happening soon because of “the problem with the TV market.”
Talk to TiVo, Vudu, ReplayTV and others about their costly disappointments in interactive TV, he suggests.
Oh, and be sure to “ask Google in a few months,” he added, serving up the snark. (Google TV debuts in the fall.)
Jobs talked about Internet video and television as part of a wide-ranging 90-minute session at Walter Mossberg’s D: All Things Digital conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. (technically, the Wall Street Journal).
A member of the audience asked if Jobs had plans to “blow out television” by making the medium interactive.
No, he said. “It’s not a problem of technology, It’s not a problem with vision.” It’s a matter of market fundamentals:
“The television industry fundamentally has a subsidized business model that gives everyone a set-top box for free or for $10 a month. That pretty much squashes any opportunity for innovation because nobody’s willing to buy (an expensive) set-top box,” Jobs said.
“A lot of people have tried. (But) you just end up with a tableful of remotes and UIs.”
What would it take? “If you can go back to square one and tear up the set-top box and redesign it from scratch with a consistent UI across all these different functions — and give it to the consumer in a way that they’re willing to pay for it. And right now there’s no way to do that.”
Jobs noted that there was no one national cable company, making technical standards a big problem. With international markets, the standards for television hardware is “very balkanized.”
He said Apple made its choice to stay clear of the interactive TV battles a long time ago:
“We decided what problem do we want the most — a better TV or a better phone. And the phone won out — there was no chance to do a better TV because there was no way to get it to the market. … The TV is going to lose until there’s a viable go-to-market strategy, otherwise you’re just making another TiVo.
“I’m sure smarter people than us will figure this out,” he concluded.
Jobs’ company has the underwhelming Apple TV, which he usually refers to as a hobby.
Reports last week said a simple $99 version is coming that would be an “iPhone without a screen” — complete with apps and streaming video, some of it in 1080p HD. Presumably, for example, that means Netflix’s Watch Instantly app would be aboard.
Jobs apparently was not asked about the new Apple TV during the conference session.
Mark Cuban, another All Things Digital speaker, had similarly downbeat things to say about the online video business.
Apple TV vs. Google TV: main event
Apple isn’t talking, but some deep throats are, confirming Engadget’s report that the new Apple TV will be an “iPhone without a screen.”
That means iPhone/iPad apps on your TV screen of choice. With the iPhone 4′s new operating system routing video streams from the cloud, some in 1080p HD.
It gets better: The price for the new Apple TV will be $99, according to Engadget.
If true, this means the death of Apple TV as we know it … and don’t love it. The unveiling of Google’s TV effort at roughly the same time as this Apple news leak appears to be a coincidence, however.
The old Apple TV (pictured) — old meaning it was never updated — never caught on and was subsequently excused as “a hobby” by Steve Jobs.
Google TV debuts in the fall, with Android apps. It will run on cable boxes and Sony HDTVs, along with other entertainment hardware TBA.
The Apple TV box would be right in line with the Jobs aesthetic — power in and video out, Engadget says. The Apple Time Machine feature allows for external hard drive storage, if you like. There’s a mere 16GB of flash memory on the TV box, meaning it’s all about the cloud.
Apps, among many other functions, provide a world of addictive games, as TechCrunch points out. Assuming they look snazzy in living room resolutions, we’re looking at an industry shake-up on the casual games front. (One possible victim of the dueling TV systems: Microsoft’s Xbox Live.)
The Apple TV streaming also will allow for easy access to your iTunes treasures — not all that difficult to achieve now via AirPort, but a bother nonetheless.
The price difference might be the first front: Google TV’s devices (inside Sony HDTVs, for example) would run on the expensive Intel Atom chips. Apple TV would rely on the company’s new A4 chips, already showing their economy on the iPad.
Meanwhile, the Fire Horse Trail blog has a somewhat creepy post about the privacy implications of the Google TV ad model.
Know how targeted ads follow you around on the Web? Coming soon to a TV near you, eventually.
Soon the TV ads will be greeting you by name, meaning the world of “Minority Report” is not so far away.