Video-sharing website YouTube looks set to top the chart as the most popular entertainment site, beating off its nearest rival: the BBC. A new survey has revealed that in "a matter of weeks" YouTube will overtake the news broadcaster, which been the most popular news media site for the last two years.
Figures from online marketing firm Hitwise show that last week bbc.co.uk had a 1.6 per cent lead on Google-owned YouTube in terms of UK visits, down from 37 per cent in March.
Hitwise vice president of research Heather Hopkins said: "Share[s] of UK visits to bbc.co.uk continue to grow, up 13 per cent year on year in May, however it is far outpaced by gains from YouTube.
"YouTube's share of UK visits was up nearly seven-fold (669 per cent) year on year in May and up 140 per cent in the past six months."
YouTube, which was founded in February 2005, has gone from strength to strength and looks to further improve its hit numbers with the news that Apple is making the site available on its long-awaited iPhone.
Visitors to the site view up to 100 million videos a day and watch clips ranging from political speeches to pranks and nights out with friends.
Earlier this week, YouTube also announced it would be expanding internationally with the launch of a number of tailored sites, which would be suitable for the UK and eight other countries.
The BBC and YouTube are followed in the popularity stakes by the BBC Weather Centre, online adventure game RuneScape and Windows Media.
