In India, 30.2 million online users watched online video in January 2011, representing 72% of the total online population, according to a new report by comScore.
The report revealed that Google websites led the market as the top video property, driven mainly by viewership at YouTube.
"The Rise of Online Video in India" report indentifies that in January 2011, 30.2 million Internet users aged 15 and older watched online video in India from a home or work location, with an average viewer consuming 58 videos and watching 5 hours of video content during the month.
In addition, 23.5 million viewers watched a total of 785 million videos on Google Sites, with viewers averaging 1.7 viewing hours during the month.
Viewership at Google Sites was mainly driven by YouTube.com which accounted for 780.7 million videos, representing 44.5% of all videos viewed in India in January 2011.
Facebook stood at second position with 6.6 million viewers and 30.1 million videos viewed, followed by Metacafe in third place with 3.9 million viewers.
India-based properties Network 18 and Rediff India ranked among the top 10 largest video properties reaching 1.2 million and 861,000 viewers, respectively.
However, compared to other countries, India displayed lower online video reach and audience engagement, the research firm said.
In the US, Brazil, the UK and Singapore, more than 80% of online visitors watched video in January, while video reached 78.6% of Australians online.
Audiences in the UK averaged the most time watching online video at 18.3 hours per viewer during the month, followed by viewers in the US (15.8 hours per viewer), and Singapore (10.7 hours per viewer).
Viewers in Brazil and Australia exhibited the same viewer engagement at 7.7 hours per viewer during January, while viewers in India averaged 5.1 hours.
comScore Southeast Asia vice-president Joe Nguyen said the online video platform offers advertisers and marketers the opportunity to reach audiences in an engaging environment, providing the potential for significant brand interaction and awareness building.
"As broadband penetration in India continues to increase, we expect to see online video continue to grow and become an increasingly important channel for marketers to reach audiences in the burgeoning Indian online market," Nguyen said.
