YouTube is the most popular online video site for users of laptop and desktop computers in a group of 17 major countries, according to a report released Dec. 13 by UK communications regulator Ofcom.
The research document, “International Communications Market Report 2012,” compares communications trends in the U.K. to 16 other nations, including France, Germany, Italy, the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, Poland, Brazil, Russia, India and China.
In each, YouTube is the most popular online video site, the report says. The online video site is most popular in Spain, where 63 percent of laptop and desktop Internet users access the site at least once per month.
However, the popularity of the site doesn’t mean YouTube is without competition. In France, 20 percent of laptop and desktop Internet users access Dailymotion, a French video-sharing site. The report notes Dailymotion has grown in popularity due to its partnerships with French pay-TV operation Canal+ and investment from France Telecom.
The report also notes YouTube faces strong competition for users in the U.K., where the BBC iPlayer catch-up TV service is popular, and in Japan from Niwango’s Nico Nico Douga video-sharing site. The former has an active reach of 15 percent, and the latter 18 percent, of active laptop and desktop Internet users, the report says.
The report points out that it is unlikely that YouTube and the BBC iPlayer compete directly with each other because YouTube primarily serves up user-generated content, while BBC iPlayer offers access to long-form, professionally produced video. However, the report points out, that regardless of the form domestic YouTube competitors take in the nations examined in the report, none have been able to achieve the top spot in among online video alternatives as has YouTube.
