MySpace takes the lead in online video

Networking site serves 1.5 billion streams in July.

Social networking site MySpace served the most videos of all online video sites in July, new figures show.

Statistics from Web monitoring firm comScore show that MySpace served nearly 1.5 billion streams, representing 20 percent of all video streamed to US internet users during the month.

The typical US user on MySpace initiated an average of 39 streams in July, or slightly more than one a day.

Yahoo Video ranked second in total streams initiated by US users with 812 million, followed by YouTube with 649 million.

In terms of number of users, Yahoo Video took the top spot with 37.9 million, followed very closely by MySpace at 37.4 million. YouTube ranked third with 30.5 million, followed by Time Warner with 25.7 million and MSN Video with 16.2 million.

More than 106.5 million people, or about three in five US internet users, streamed or downloaded videos during July.

Nearly 7.2 billion videos were streamed or downloaded with an average of 67 streams per streamer, which means that the typical video streamer viewed an average of more than two streams per day.

"The surge in web video content enables advertisers to expand beyond banners and reach online audiences using sight, sound and motion," said Erin Hunter, executive vice president of comScore's Media and Entertainment Group.