Although retaining its dominant position in the online video market, YouTube had to fend off strong competition in the video traffic space from Heavy.com during the week ending 8 October.

Website traffic analysis firm Hitwise reported that Heavy.com, the largest independent broadband network in the US, is the second largest entertainment video site on the web with a 17 per cent market share.

This compares with YouTube's 35 per cent market share for the same week in October.

Heavy.com outranked MySpace, Google Video and Metacafe for video traffic based on visits.

Heavy.com's programming staples include The Massive Mating Game, Heavy News Behind the Music that Sucks, Pimp My Weapon, Contagious, Blisster and Tourettes Cowboy.

Portions of the site's library of content are also available for free download to Sony's PlayStation Portable and Apple's video iPod.