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Eclectic Online Video Finds a Niche

As mainstream broadcasters and cable programmers begin providing well-produced streaming video online, they are going to find they can't just waltz into the broadband space and begin plucking customers immediately. They�ll face real competition from Internet incumbents -- existing online services such as Break.com, AtomFilms.com and Heavy.com -- that owned online video before it was trendy and which have attracted massive, loyal audiences.

Last week, Break.com featured as one of its top videos a minute-long clip of a group of college kids pushing a friend in a shopping cart down the stairwell in their dormitory. Admittedly, it was sophomoric -- a typical college stunt. But it was also pretty funny.

That�s why it�s one of the leading videos on online video channel Break, a Web TV venue that is generating massive traffic to its assortment of user-created videos. Break is on pace to attract nearly 10 million unique monthly visitors watching more than 100 million video clips this month. According to Nielsen/NetRatings, the site generated more than 5 million unique visitors in the first half of November.

That�s about three times Comedy Central's 3.3 million monthly unique visitors. Comedy Central�s newly launched broadband platform, MotherLoad, had close to 50,000 unique visitors the week of Nov. 7. Because Break is focused on comedic short videos, it�s right in the Comedy Central competitive arena. AtomFilms lures between 5 million and 6 million unique visitors monthly.

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