When it comes to online web video its YouTube leading the way. Michael Learmonth, Senior Editor of Silicon Alley Insider wrote an article entitled, "YouTube vs. Everyone Else: No Contest". His article breaks down the latest comScore Video Metrix and discusses what this means for a declining online web video market for everyone else.

ESPN and Bebo announce that ESPN.com will make its short-form online video content accessible directly through Bebo’s Open Media platform in the U.S. ESPN will offer highlights from games and major sporting events as well as video clips from ESPN original programming. The content will be delivered via an ESPN video player that will be embedded within a tailored Channel Profile. The ESPN Channel page launched on today and can be found at http://www.bebo.com/ESPNVideoSC.

Disney.com again broke records this summer with new site traffic and “time spent online” records in August. Last month the Disney Online network of sites scored more than 32.3 million unique visitors according to comScore Media Metrix, beating the most recent site record set in June by more than two million unique visitors and representing a 26 percent increase over the prior year. Features recently added to the site such as new “Games,” “Video,” “Character” and “My Page” portals contributed to the milestones. Other drivers included entertainment events and content based on Disney Channel and Disney music properties as well as a user-generated content promotion, ‘U Rock the Summer on Disney.com.’

Crackle.com launches its new fall season September 15th online and on mobile. Crackle's mobile partners, which include AT&T and Sprint, will launch eleven original series (listed below), including projects from three-time Emmy Award-winning actor Brad Garrett; the infamous Hollywood improv troupe, the Groundlings; up-and-coming comedians Owen Benjamin ("The House Bunny") and Dan Levy; film/TV and videogame producer, Jace Hall; music impresario Vincent Moon, and several others.

Additionally, the series' will premiere on several other Crackle online partners in its distribution network, including YouTube; MySpace; Hulu; AOL Video; Adobe; and direct to Sony BRAVIA TVs via BRAVIA Internet Video Link.

FOXSports.com on MSN announced Verizon Wireless customers can watch full-length programming from FOXSports.com on their Verizon Wireless V CAST Video phones.

The following FOXSports.com on MSN shows are now available on V CAST Video from Verizon Wireless:

• "The Online OT" -- A Sunday, post-game look at the week's pro football action.
• "Coaches' Corner" -- Interviews and analysis featuring some of the nation's top college football coaches.
• "Pro Football Preview Show" -- An in-depth look at the upcoming pro football season, including analysis from FOXSports.com experts and interviews with players, coaches and team execs.

comScore releass its July 2008 data from the comScore Video Metrix service, reporting that Americans viewed more than 11.4 billion videos for a total duration of 558 million hours during the month.

Google Sites Maintains Dominant Position

In July, Google Sites once again ranked as the top U.S. video property with more than 5 billion videos viewed (representing a 44 percent share of the online video market), with YouTube.com accounting for more than 98 percent of all videos viewed at the property. Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 446 million videos (3.9 percent), followed by Microsoft Sites with 282 million (2.5 percent) and Yahoo! Sites with 269 million (2.4 percent). Hulu ranked eighth with 119 million videos, representing 1 percent of all videos viewed.

Sparkway is using PermissionTV's QuickStart video player to create and launch new online video programming for NYResidentialTV.com, the Web-based complement to the popular news magazine television program. The web site allows Internet users to watch full-length program content, including in-depth profiles on different New York City neighborhoods and real estate projects, tips for buyers and sellers, comprehensive property searches, as well as interviews with the most knowledgeable and respected real estate reporters and market experts in New York.

Daily online traffic on the web site of China’s largest broadcaster surpassed that of the leading U.S. broadcaster and online channel during the Olympics, according to WebTrends Analytics.

Spurred by national pride and massive growth in Internet adoption in China, CCTV.com, the site run by national broadcaster China Central TV, drew more than 100 million unique visitors during the 2008 Olympic Games. WebTrends Analytics documented an average of more than 6 million unique visitors each day. In comparison, NBC, which maintained broadcast rights to the Games in the United States, reported an average of 4.3 million unique users a day on its Olympics web site. Yahoo!, which also featured extensive online video from the Olympics, averaged 4.7 million, according to media accounts.

The 2008 Communications Market Report by Ofcom shows broadband-delivered TV services are catching on with British viewers. Content on demand has consumers of all ages showing a growing interest in accessing audio-visual content online; 17% of those with broadband watched TV over the internet, up by eight percentage points on 2006 – and this is particularly apparent among younger people.

The internet has become an important distribution platform, both for the television industry and for consumers seeking online content. For example, the BBC iPlayer in May 2008 served 700,000 video streams daily. Another increase can be seen in a third of internet users watching online video clips and webcasts in 2007 compared to just over a fifth in 2006. In April of 2008, the number of UK viewers watching YouTube doubled to that of one year ago reaching 9 million.

Building on the initial success of the Boston Pops' online video initiative, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and PermissionTV have expanded the interactive experience to showcase the Tanglewood summer concert series on the Web. The 2008 Festival of Contemporary Music celebrated the award-winning collections of renowned composer Elliott Carter and is available at TanglewoodWebTV.org. Fans can access interactive videos, behind-the-scenes interviews with orchestra members, an exclusive tour of the Tanglewood grounds and a comprehensive documentary about Carter.

The Worldwide online video revenue is expected to eclipse US$4.5 billion by 2012, up from $1.2 billion in 2008, says In-Stat. Purchased/rented videos are expected to offer the most robust growth for online video in the near term, in large part due to an increase in subscription services such as Netflix, which charges a flat monthly fee to deliver an optimal combination of packaged goods and online content that can be viewed on home TV sets. Ad-supported professional video from major TV networks will become a strong revenue contributor by 2012.

The British Prime Minster's Office will use Brightcove's online video platform to increase the availability of video content through the official government website, http://Number10.gov.uk. As part of this initiative 10 Downing Street will also launch a new website channel, Number10TV, which will provide public access to exclusive video of the Prime Minster's speeches, press conferences, media appearances, and news archives.

With the 2008 Olympics underway in Beijing, Nielsen Online released U.S. Internet audience figures for the top 10 most visited Olympics-related content Web sites and traffic to NBC's online video content. With momentum building prior to the opening ceremonies, fans are now finding results, news and video online.

Digital Fountain announces that NonStop Riot is using Digital Fountain’s DF Splash video delivery network to deliver high-definition music videos to online viewers. NonStop Riot is a music connoisseur’s dream guide to hot, new music online and will deliver online music videos via DF Splash to provide a high quality, HD experience that artists and online viewers demand and expect.

With DF Splash, NonStop Riot is enabling artists and brands to build a stronger relationship with the viewer through HD videos of live performance and lifestyle content. NonStop Riot creates music videos for some of the most popular emerging music artists, including Meiko, The Submarines, Shwayze, and Jessie Baylin, and many more, which can be seen at www.nonstopriot.tv.

TopCoder announced the winners of the Truveo Developer Challenge. Competing for a prize pool of $100,000, developers were set loose to build custom applications that use Truveo's open API, to build the next great video search application. Competitors leveraged Truveo, the world's leading video search engine with a continuously-updated index of more than 200 million Web videos, to create 93 powerful new applications in just over two months of competition.