Hitwise reports that UK Internet traffic to online video websites, such as the BBC's FLASH based iPlayer and YouTube, has increased by 178% between February 2007 and 2008. In addition, the top 25 video websites in the UK accounted for 2.22% of all UK Internet visits in February 2008.

Robin Goad, Director of Research at Hitwise, puts the growth down to, "The increasing penetration of fast broadband connections in the UK. However, the sheer volume of compelling content out there is clearly helping to accelerate this trend." We've re-written the top 10 below:


Naturally YouTube is the most popular video site in the UK and the eighth most visited website overall. However, the BBC's iPlayer has already managed to place an impressive third place, despite only having existed for a fraction of the time.

The BBC's catch-up TV streaming service has increased its market share of UK Internet visits by 423% since December 2007, and is now the 50th most visited website in the UK overall.

One in every 40 searches in the UK during February 2008 resulted in a visit to a video site, up from one in every 117 a year before. Nearly one-third of all traffic to the top 25 video sites in the UK comes from search engines, and the range and variety of videos that people are searching for continues to increase.