Facebook fades in online video rankings
Facebook’s turn at No. 2 in the online video rankings lasted but a month, as Yahoo returned to the second slot.
“Google sites” — meaning YouTube — pulled in 144 million unique visitors, slightly down from August’s count, comScore said in its monthly online video rankings.
Yahoo (sites) was good for 54.4 million uniques, followed by Facebook at 52 million. In August, Facebook slipped past Yahoo with a showing of 58.5 million (vs. 54 million), so the September ranking was a result of pullback in Facebook uniques.
Hulu made it back into the Top 10 in September, pulling in 29.9 million uniques to edge Turner Networks for 9th place.
Overall, 175 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content during the month, for an average of 14.4 hours per viewer. That’s more than 5.2 billion viewing sessions in September. Almost 84 percent of the U.S. Net audience watched some online video, comScore said its monthly report.
In minutes per viewer, Hulu totaled 162.6 minutes, second only to Google/YouTube. Hulu outpaced all competitors in number of video ads viewed.
Hulu IPO seeks $300 mil, report says
Hulu reportedly is ramping up for an initial public offering, seeking up to $300 million.
While the IPO rumor was floated earlier this year, a source now tells Reuters that the filing would come this year, with the offering as early as the first quarter. The IPO is “contingent on the renewal of rights to carry shows,” the source says, noting that “some expire in a year.”
Morgan Stanley reportedly would bring the Hulu IPO to market.
Hulu’s backers include Fox (News Corp.), NBC and ABC (Disney). CBS is not currently in the mix and new NBC owner Comcast built its own streaming service (for cable subscribers only).
Hulu’s new premium (paid) service looks like a bust so far, with most of its content already available for free.
Hulu rival Netflix, meanwhile, reached a new deal with Sony Pictures that won’t thrill renters. Selected Sony fare will be subject to a 28-day holding period after the titles’ retail street date — same as with Warner Bros., Universal and Fox.
Hulu says its end of the deal brings more streaming content from Sony to the Watch Instantly service, which needs it. (Hulu recently launched the digital service in Canada.)
Apple TV and Google TV are making their way into the market as well.