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Hitwise is reporting data showing that search and social media are virtually equal when it comes to the share of referrals to online video.

In the week ending April 12, 2008, the share of search referrals were up 35% year-over-year, while the share of social media referrals was down by 20%.

Within search referrals, Google’s share increased by 44% and Yahoo’s increased by 13%. Within social media referrals, the share of MySpace.com referrals declined by 25%.

The increase in search referrals is likely attributed to universal and blended search.

Still, online videos are gaining in popularity. comScore is reporting that over 10.8 billion online videos were viewed in the month of February alone, up 3% from January and 66% from February 2007. And Hitwise adds context with reporting that viewers spent an average of 16 minutes and 12 seconds watching online videos last week, up from 15 minutes and 14 minutes year-over-year.

Related Reading:
YouTube Videos Now Part of Google Maps Search Mix
The Video Search Revolution will be Contextualized
Michael Boland
Universal Pictures: Optimizing Video for Search
Spot Runner Buys Weblistic: Local Search on Video Steroids

comScore today announced the availability of comScore Video Metrix in four new markets: Canada, France, Germany and the UK. comScore Video Metrix, which was first launched in the US more than two years ago, now provides online video measurement across all five of these countries.

This enables search engine marketers “to better plan advertising to a highly-engaged, but often elusive audience, that typically spends less time with traditional media,” Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore, said in a press release.

Of interest to search engine marketers planning to attend SES Toronto, comScore found that Canada has the heaviest online video viewing activity.

Of the five countries currently reported by comScore Video Metrix, online video had the highest reach in Canada, where 19 million viewers viewed a video online in December, representing 89 percent of the total online population age 15 and older. The UK was next with an 87 percent reach, followed by France with an 84 percent reach and Germany with an 81 percent reach. Penetration was slightly lower in the US, where online video reached 78 percent of the total online population.

Canada’s online video audience also viewed more videos than any of the other reported countries, averaging 112 videos per viewer for the month of December, followed by the UK with 108 videos per viewer, Germany with 92 videos per viewer, and France with 89 videos per viewer. Again, US activity was slightly lower, averaging 77 videos per viewer in December.

Driven largely by video viewership at YouTube, Google Sites led as the most popular online video destination in all reported countries. However, beyond this there were strong performances from key local players, with BBC Sites ranked second in the UK, DailyMotion.com ranked second in France, and Vivendi ranked second in Germany. Microsoft Sites was amongst the top 5 ranked video sites in the US, UK and Canada, but not in France and Germany.

Many search engine marketers have started creating online video on a much larger scale this year.

For example, the Search Engine Strategies Conference and Expo channel on YouTube now has more than 80 video interviews with speakers and exhibitors posted from SES London and SES New York 2008. Combined, they’ve received 10,932 views across all the videos as of this morning.

The most popular video in the SES channel is my interview with Nick Carr, the author of “The Big Switch,” conducted before his keynote presentation at SES London.

The Big Switch by Nick Carr — SES London 2008

And more video interviews are planned for SES Toronto 2008. So, stay tuned. Don’t touch that dial. Film at 11.

We hear a lot about universal search and how it will keep SEO professionals on their toes with constantly evolving ranking algorithms. So how can local online advertisers take advantage of universal search? In today’s Vertical Challenge column, “Universal Pictures: Optimizing Video for Search,” local search expert Michael Boland explains that creating optimized online video is a great opportunity for local marketers that are on top of their SEO game.

Warning: You must be 21 years of age to view this site.

You must be of legal purchase age to enter the corrupt world of this online video / search campaign — winner of the Yahoo Searchlight Awards.

The third annual Yahoo Searchlight Award winner: “Partay” the whitest boys in the room hip-hop video promoting the responsible consumption of Smirnoff Raw Tea by search marketing firm Outrider.

Target demographic for search ads: Who cares? Par-tay! You don’t have to type in your age to click on a “Crizazy” text ad for Russian hooch.

Don’t agree with the winner? Don’t blame the judges. All, including Kevin Ryan, were limited to “one man, one vote” while the big audience voted electronically.

That’ll teach interactive agencies not to send a whole crew to an awards ceremony.

Funniest line: Ron Belanger called Kevin Ryan, “The Howard Stern of Search.”

2nd Funniest line: What world-famous comedian and emcee Craig Ferguson called Kevin Ryan.

To find the answer, go to the Search Engine Strategies blog.

For more drunken rap videos in the East vs West Rap WarGames, go to TeaPartay.com. (No link love for preppie rappers.)

Outrider copywriter say, IF YA WANNA ROLL WIT DA TEA PARTAY WE NEED TO KNOW YOUR AGE PLAYA. Submit, yo.

We appear to have two data points related to online video that are worth paying attention to.
Number one: According to the BBC, Nielsen says that traffic to some online video sites has doubled since the Hollywood writers’ strike in October turned the TV into a wasteland of reruns and unfunny late-night talk shows [...]

China’s Ministry of Information Industry and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television have issued new regulations concerning online video.
The new rules say that online video can be broadcast only by state-owned or state-controlled companies. The new regulations will go into effect January 31.  The policy will prohibit providers from broadcasting video that involves [...]

Sixty-five percent of people who watch video on their computers, mobile devices or digital media players are watching professionally-produced TV programming, including network-and cable-produced shows, news and sports, according to ChoiceStream’s 2007 Survey of Viewer Trends in TV & Online Video.
That number surpasses the 39 percent of people watching user-generated video by 67 percent and [...]

How should local business and national advertisers selling locally think about incorporating video and video search into their ad arsenals? In today’s Vertical Challenge column, “Online Video Finds Local Search,” local search expert Gregg Stewart points out that now is the perfect time to test the effectiveness of online video in your local search marketing-driven [...]

AOL’s advertising division, Platform-A, developed the video ticker ads as an alternative to conventional pre-roll spots for online video.Advertisers and networks want to balance the placement of their video marketing with the likelihood such placement won’t backfire by annoying the targeted audience. They have experimented with dropping ads before the video, after the video, and [...]

YouTube videos continue to get more and more portable as Google integrates them into other search products, and approaches a semblance of return on the $1.65 billion it paid for the video site.
The latest is today’s announcement that Google will imbed YouTube videos throughout Google Earth, where geographically relevant. This comes days after [...]