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YouTube and Viral Video Gains Momentum

Nielsen//NetRatings reported that weekly U.S. Web traffic to video sharing site YouTube grew 75 percent in the week ending July 16th, from 7.3 million to 12.8 million unique visitors. Visitors to the site can choose among the most recent, most viewed and most discussed videos, among other categories.

YouTube's audience has grown significantly over the past several months. Among the top 25 Web brands ranked by unique audience, YouTube was the fastest growing from January to June 2006, increasing 297 percent, from a monthly unique audience of 4.9 million to 19.6 million. The number of Web pages viewed has grown even faster, increasing 515 percent, from 11.8 million in January to 72.4 million in June. The average time spent at the site has increased 64 percent during the same period, from just over 17 minutes to nearly 28 minutes.

Key Demographics: Men are 20 percent more likely to visit YouTube than women, with unique audience composition indexes of 113 and 88, respectively. Visitors between 12-17 years old index the highest among the various age groups, at 142. They are nearly 1.5 times more likely than the average Web user to go to YouTube.

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