As for some old, but significant news from last week MySpace will launch its new video platform, MySpaceTV. The announcement comes on the heels of explosive video growth driven by dozens of industry content partnerships and user interface changes. According to comScore Media Metrix, MySpace’s total number of video streams has leapt by 100% and the site has added 15 million unique streamers since January.

MySpaceTV will be an integrated component of the company’s worldwide community and content platform, continues the evolution of the company’s video offering by aggregating the best elements of video and empowers MySpace users to view, create, and share videos in new ways throughout the community. MySpaceTV will serve as the community’s primary video channel and as a stand-alone user destination at www.myspacetv.com.

According to comScore, 38% of people streaming video on the Internet are doing so on MySpace and the company’s total number of unique streamers has gone from 35 million in January to more than 50 million in April, a 40% increase in past three months. MySpace’s overall growth has continued to rocket with the site clearing 110 million global active users in May, more than three times the size of the next largest social networking site.

MySpace’s growth in videos streamed has leapt 100% from January to April as a result of the recent video-focused content deals and partnerships including:

• Broadband Emmy Awards
• Michael Eisner’s Prom Queen
• Mark Burnett’s INDEPENDENT
• National Basketball Association
• National Hockey League
• The Sony Minisode Network
• Branded channel partners (including the New York Times, Reuters, National Geographic)

“When you see us going from 332 million to 648 million videos per month you know something big is happening,” said Tom Anderson, co-founder and president of MySpace. “We’re going to be rolling out innovative video products and features in the coming months to further empower our users.”

MySpace has made significant video interface changes in recent weeks to make it easier for users to view and share content. Site-wide changes include “cool new videos” on the user homepage, an optimized video search tool, one-click video add to profile, one-click video bulletins, video slide show functionality, and enabling subscriptions to keep track of videos from favorite content creators.

In addition, the recent acquisitions of Flektor, a cutting-edge online media editing tool set, and Photobucket, the number one photo sharing site online, are expected to help continue driving MySpace’s explosive video growth.

Localized in 15 international territories, MySpaceTV allows users to share and create videos in their own language, discover the most popular and relevant videos in their markets, and connect with other local users. Localized versions of MySpace TV are immediately available in seven different languages across the UK, Japan, Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, Latin America, Sweden, and Austria.

The beta launch of MySpaceTV introduces a new video user interface, categorical organization for all content, a personalized video channel, exclusive and original content, user generated and partner driven branded channels, and video charts. The platform blends user generated, premium, licensed, and sponsored content.

MySpaceTV’s easy-to-navigate user interface includes:

• Home Page – Includes a hot video of the day, a variety of featured videos, premium and other unique content.
• My Videos – MySpaceTV evolves the company’s community driven approach to video by offering worldwide users the option to create a personal video channel in addition to their already existing MySpace profile. Users will have a personalized video channel within their MySpace page which will allow them to save their favorite videos, comment, and create playlists.
• Video Charts – A ranking of the most popular videos determined by the MySpace community available in 16 categories and 7 languages.
• Categories – Includes unique video content based on user’s interests in 16 categories (animals, animation/ CGI, automotive, comedy and humor, entertainment, extreme videos, instructional, music, news and politics, schools and education, science and technology, video blogging, sports, travel and vacations, video games, and weird stuff).
• Channels – A community where musicians, filmmakers and comedians can post videos along with other user generated content.

In advance of the launch, MySpace has already announced deals with a variety of content partners for branded channels that will appear on MySpaceTV. Partners include National Geographic, The New York Times, Reuters, and lifestyle outlets including Animation Show, The Daily Reel, Expert Village, Flow, FOX’s IGN Entertainment, Kush TV, LX.TV, Octane TV, Ripe TV, Studio411, VBS.tv (from the makers of Vice Magazine), and Young Hollywood.

The beta launch of MySpaceTV marks the first phase in a high volume of video-specific product innovations, partnership announcements, and new community-driven functionalities.