(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-03-06 16:28

Google's YouTube had almost 66.2 million unique viewers and streamed almost 2.6 billion clips in Jan. and contiues as the preferred online video site of US users, media reported Thursday.

Chad Hurley (L) and Steve Chen, co-founders of YouTube, which was acquired by Web search leader Google Inc. for $1.65 billion last year, attend a news conference in Paris June 19, 2007. [Agencies]

"YouTube will soon give marketers more data about viewership of its videos," said Brian Cusack, YouTube sales team manager.

By making more detailed metrics available, YouTube wants to give marketers a better understanding of the reach of their clips, and of their effectiveness at boosting brand awareness and sales.

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He also said YouTube has only recently begun to be used as a marketing vehicle. YouTube only introduced significant advertising opportunities in last year's third quarter and is still very much learning how to make itself useful for these purposes, he said.

Other Internet companies, advertising agencies and corporate marketing departments are also striving to understand what are the best ways to use online video for advertising and marketing.

In the meantime, usage stats like the ones issued by Nielsen Online on Wednesday leave one thing clear: YouTube, at least for now, is the undisputed leader in online video.

Fox Interactive Media, the News Corp. unit that houses MySpace, came in second in streamed clips with 376.8 million and third in unique viewers with almost 19 million.

Yahoo ranked third in streams with a little over 299 million and second in unique viewers with 22.1 million.