Online video sharing site YouTube has trounced rivals in the latest US market share survey released by Hitwise.Visits to the Google-owned site were revealed to have soared by 70 per cent from the start of the year through to May.
In comparison, visits to the next 64 largest video sharing sites increased by just eight per cent in the same period, a figure that clearly indicates YouTube's market dominance.
Google purchased the video site last October for $1.65 billion (825 million pounds) and has since experienced a series of problems including issues with copyrighted videos.
One of the company's biggest rivals, MySpace, is set to launch its own independent video sharing channel to try and close the gap on YouTube, and Hitwise's figures show the social networking giant and all its other competitors have a lot of work to do.
Hitwise research director LeeAnn Prescott said: "As of May 2007, YouTube's market share was 50 per cent greater than those 64 sites combined."
YouTube secured a 60.2 per cent share of the US video market last month, with MySpace Videos, its closest rival, claiming 16.08 per cent of the market.
Google Video managed to hold a 7.81 per cent share, followed by Yahoo! and MSN, which claimed 2.77 per cent and 2.09 per cent respectively.
MySpace will attempt to cut YouTube's massive lead in the future by launching MySpace TV, a platform for homemade videos as well as professional productions.
