MSN is gearing up to launch a video-sharing community website in a bid to match the popularity of YouTube and MySpace.
The launch marks a significant strategic move by MSN, with online video-sharing becoming easier as broadband penetration grows.
Since launching in January last year, social networking website YouTube has grown phenomenally fast to become the fourth-largest such site, with around 40 million unique users.
According to a recent Hitwise study, YouTube and MySpace dominate video web searches, with a combined share of 65%.
YouTube alone accounts for almost 43% of the market share.
Users regularly spend up to 30 minutes per visit viewing and sharing videos on YouTube, and with the average session at almost 15 minutes.
Established online media players - Google, Yahoo!, MSN and AOL - have failed to significantly tap the phenomenon.
Each of the firms already has a video search service but, according to the recent Hitwise study, none of them holds more that 9% of the market.
Last month, Yahoo! announced it was developing its video search service to be more community focused.
AOL has a service beyond video search called Uncut that uses the strapline "See it, shoot it, share it".
The firm has confirmed that its social community site AIM Pages, which is currently being beta-tested in the US, is likely to launch in the UK later this year.
MSN said that the new site would be separate from its existing online social community MSN Spaces.
http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,,1804667,00.html?gusrc=rss
The launch marks a significant strategic move by MSN, with online video-sharing becoming easier as broadband penetration grows.
Since launching in January last year, social networking website YouTube has grown phenomenally fast to become the fourth-largest such site, with around 40 million unique users.
According to a recent Hitwise study, YouTube and MySpace dominate video web searches, with a combined share of 65%.
YouTube alone accounts for almost 43% of the market share.
Users regularly spend up to 30 minutes per visit viewing and sharing videos on YouTube, and with the average session at almost 15 minutes.
Established online media players - Google, Yahoo!, MSN and AOL - have failed to significantly tap the phenomenon.
Each of the firms already has a video search service but, according to the recent Hitwise study, none of them holds more that 9% of the market.
Last month, Yahoo! announced it was developing its video search service to be more community focused.
AOL has a service beyond video search called Uncut that uses the strapline "See it, shoot it, share it".
The firm has confirmed that its social community site AIM Pages, which is currently being beta-tested in the US, is likely to launch in the UK later this year.
MSN said that the new site would be separate from its existing online social community MSN Spaces.
http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,,1804667,00.html?gusrc=rss
