comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, released April 2011 data from the comScore Video Metrix service, showing that Germany leads in online video viewing across several reporting metrics for the European countries currently reported in comScore Video Metrix (France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, Turkey and UK).

“Online video is beginning to compete with traditional television viewing for people’s attention, and Internet users in several European countries are leading the way,” said Mike Read, comScore SVP of Europe. “Germany is not only the largest European market for online video viewing but also the most engaged at nearly 20 hours per viewer per month, while several other countries are not far behind.”

Germany is one of Largest Online Video Markets in Europe

Of the markets reported by comScore, Germany ranks as the leader in online video viewing, with 45 million unique viewers watching an average of 187 videos for 19.6 hours per viewer in April. Turkey, with 20.7 million viewers overall, ranked second in terms of engagement with 169 videos viewed for an average 18.7 hours per viewer. The UK emerged as the third strongest online video market in engagement with 166 videos watched for 17.0 hours on average per viewer.

Google Sites Ranks as Top Video Property in All Markets Except Turkey

Google Sites, largely driven by viewing at YouTube, ranked as the leading online video property among all European markets reported in Video Metrix, with the exception of Turkey, where Facebook was the market leader. Facebook is increasing viewership in most countries, and ranked in the top 3 online video destinations in five out of the seven reported European countries. Local online video destinations also ranked among the top 3 in Germany (ProSiebenSat1 Sites), the UK (BBC Sites), France (Dailymotion.com) and Russia (Mail.ru Group). Across markets, Vevo’s videos were largely consumed via their YouTube channel.