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YouTube is dominant enough among video websites that, in order to keep its rivals from getting squished together at the bottom, it had to be removed from a graph showing Australian market shares.  Still, MSN Video and CNET TV are doing well under its rule.

Hitwise's Sandra Hanchard writes, "MSN Video . . . increased by 63.8% during the week ending 19 July 2008, overtaking YouTube Australia."  MSN Video is now sitting (relatively) pretty with a market share of 6.15 percent.  CNET TV achieved a similar climb, rising 61.9 percent in order to corner a smaller share of 3.03 percent. 

 YouTube's Competitors
(Photo Credit: Hitwise)

The problem, insofar as the owners of those two sites are concerned, is that YouTube.com's market share in the same period was 65.9 percent.  So we're talking about two bulked-up koalas in comparison to an enormous kangaroo.  But it's remarkable that anything could make such inroads, and a simple redesign and jump in referrals seem to be the culprits.

Hanchard concludes as a result, "We're likely to see other niche online publishers offer video content to boost user traction. . . .  [T]here is an opportunity to build market share through diversified traffic sources."

This is also good news as far as NBC and News Corp. are concerned, too, since they'll likely try to launch Hulu in countries other than the U.S. before much longer.