Audience for video sharing sites nearly doubles

From bizReports:

Over the last year the audience for video sharing websites has doubled
according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Researchers
found that 48% of adults said they had visited a video sharing site in
December 2007.

In December 2006 only 33% of users said they had visited a video
sharing site; that is an increase of 45% year over year. About 15% of
the respondents in 2007 said they had visited a video sharing site the
day prior to the survey; in 2006 only 8% said the same thing.

This is a very large growth span for the year and an indication that
online video is continuing to increase in popularity. While growth
such as the 45% increase cannot continue indefinitely, it is clear
that users are becoming accustomed to visiting these sites on a
regular basis. This means that advertisers will soon have even more
reach into the audience segment.

As online video continues to grow, though, advertisers will need to
grow their own video capabilities and increase their targeting
methods. Sponsoring video content or segments will likely become a
large part of the video ad spends. Advertisers will also need to have
unique ideas for their online ads.

While consumers have indicated that watching video ads rather than
paying for content is preferred, if the ads offered aren't engaging,
users will tune them out.