New Feb. 2012 data from comScore shows that the alliance between Yahoo! and ABC News is producing record traffic and usage, with 410 million videos streamed in February on their properties.
That amounted to over half the 814 million online news and information videos streamed during the month, beating the closest competition MSNBC by 163% and CNN by 282%, ABC News is reporting.
The data shows that MSNBC had around 19%, followed by CNN at 13%, HPMG News at 5%, Fox News at 4% and CBS News at 3%, with other news sites accounting for the remaining 6%.
In an interview, Joe Ruffolo, senior VP ABC News Digital credited their impressive market share to the existing strength of Yahoo! news operations, ABC's extensive content, the growing popularity of the original videos they've been creating as part of the alliance, which began in October of 2011, and impressive growth at GoodMorningAmerica.com. "The alliance has really put everything into hyperdrive," he said.
In terms of original videos, the original digital series Around the World with Christiane Amanpour, This Could be Big with Bill Weir and the Newsmakers interview series have grown 107% since being launched.
GoodMorningAmerica.com on Yahoo! had 28 million visitors in February, versus 13 million for Today.com.
The network's properties, which include Yahoo! News, Finance and Entertainment as well as ABCNews.com, OTUSNews.com and GoodMorningAmerica.com, also ranked number one in unique users and page views, Ruffolo noted.
More than 89 million people visited content on the network's various properties in February, about 30 million more than the number two ranked CNN.
"There's no question that Yahoo! News' alliance with ABC News has been a success these past five months," said Rob Barrett, Yahoo! VP of news and finance, in a statement. "The combination of Yahoo! News and ABC News' talented team of voices within live event coverage and original online programming has been a key asset in providing our massive audience with the informative and relevant news coverage they want."
Ruffolo also noted that the heavy traffic to the network's various properties would be an important talking point at this year's upfronts given the growing importance of online video advertising. The Pew Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism has projected the online video ad spend to jump by 54% in 2012 and see another 34% in 2013 as online video consumption continues to skyrocket. Pew estimates that 92% of adults aged 18-29 watched online video in 2011.
"ABC is in a unique position as we go into the upfronts because of the reach we have with the online component of the Yahoo! ABC News Network and the large audiences we can deliver on TV," Ruffolo noted.
Looking forward, Ruffolo expects them to continue to expand their original video production as well as their streaming video. During the Super Tuesday primaries, they streamed a 4.5 hour of coverage featuring both Yahoo! and ABC talent. "You will see more that as the election continues," he noted.
