Writers' strike boosts online video traffic

The writers' strike in the US has led to an increase in the number of online videos being watched, according to Nielsen Online.

The strike by the Writers Guild of America has forced some shows off the air and resulted in an increase of repeated programmes on US television channels.

According to figures from Nielsen Online, traffic on YouTube rose 18 per cent in November and December 2007.

However, the biggest gains were on video website Crackle, which saw its traffic jump by 105.6 per cent in the two months since the strike kicked in.

Crackle's regular 1.2 million users doubled to 2.4 million during November and December.

Dailymotion's traffic for the period was up by 12.6 per cent, and LiveVideo's increased by 9.4 per cent.

However, the gains could also be explained by dips at rival video websites MySpace, MSN and Yahoo which all saw traffic fall between 3.5 per cent and eight per cent over the period.