WebProNews

The online presence for the MSNBC cable channel drew nearly 23.8 million visitors in June.

"Online video is becoming more and more mainstream," said Charlie Tillinghast, General Manager and Publisher of MSNBC.com, said in a statement. "One out of every five visits to MSNBC.com includes a video play and we're reaching audiences that traditional broadcasters are struggling to reach."

The website noted its place atop Nielsen/NetRatings Current Events and Global News category for June 2005, where it finished just ahead of CNN, which had 21.3 million unique visitors for the period.

In a statement, MSNBC.com cited increases in video uses and growing advertising revenues in saying it is alone atop the online video news marketplace. It also noted advertiser support for online-specific ads, not only financially but by specifically creating new ad properties for the Internet; Proctor & Gamble and General Motors are two of those advertisers.

MSNBC.com plans to extend those videos to users of MSN Messenger. While many users do not stay on a web site all day, especially at work, many do have instant messaging clients available. MSNBC sees that number of MSN Messenger users as a way to extend their lead in viewership.

And with an increase in numbers, MSNBC can charge more for advertising, especially with the 18-34 purchasing demographic spending more time online than it does watching conventional television.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.