Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) remains by far the Internet’s largest search engine and its various websites, including YouTube, attract the largest audience for viewing online video. In the month of October, Google’s videos drew a total of 162.3 million unique desktop PC viewers in the United States. The total number of unique viewers in the country reached 191.5 million. About 60% of the entire U.S. population of around 317.3 million watched an online video last month, and more than half (51.2%) watched a video streamed by Google.

The remaining sites in the online video viewer rankings, according to research firm comScore, are:

2.  Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB), 93.8 million unique viewers
3.  AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL), 86.3 million
4.  Sites of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), 57.1 million
5.  VEVO, 48.2 million
6.  Maker Studios, from Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS), 45.6 million
7.  Sites of Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), 44.0 million
8.  AnyClip Media, 41.99 million
9.  Vimeo, from IAC/Interactive Corp. (NASDAQ: IACI), 38.9 million
10. Fullscreen, 37.3 million

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In March, Disney paid nearly $1 billion ($500 million in cash plus an earn-out) for Maker Studios, a multichannel network (an MCN, to industry insiders) that not only produces its own videos but acts as a distributor for literally thousands of videos from all over the world. Maker counted more than 50,000 YouTube channels earlier this year, and in exchange for promoting and managing videos the company takes a little piece of the advertising revenues that each channel generates.

Otter Media, a joint media venture between AT&T Corp. (NYSE: T) and privately held Chernin Group, paid $200 million to $300 million in September for a majority stake in Fullscreen, another MCN. At the time, Chernin’s president told The New York Times:

We don’t see anything more exciting in the media industry than what is happening with online video, over-the-top video and television increasingly migrating online. What Fullscreen is doing in terms of redefining entertainment and media for young adults is powerful on a global scale.

Online video viewing still trails well behind TV viewing, but that is changing. Earlier this year nScreen Media reported what is happening:

Millennials [ages 18 through 29] strongly prefer digital media over traditional. They are 24% more likely than average to use Internet subscription services, 20% free Internet video and 14% owned digital movies and TV shows. They’re also 10% more likely to watch home videos. On the other hand, they are less likely to subscribe to pay-TV. 63% say they currently subscribe versus 77% of 30-49 year olds.

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