Online video viewership reached record levels in October, with YouTube passing the 20 billion views mark for the first time. That number represents a little less than 50% of all videos watched in the U.S., according to the latest statistics shared by comScore.

U.S. Internet users watched an all-time high of 42.6 billion videos during October, with YouTube accounting for 20.9 billion of those views — 49.1% of the total. ComScore credits YouTube/Google with an audience of just under 161 million unique viewers, almost triple the reach of Facebook, which was second with a little less than 60 million unique viewers.

ComScore says Google/YouTube also had the highest engagement with users averaging more than 7 hours of video each during the month.

Related Topics: Channel: Video | Google: YouTube & Video | Stats: comScore | Stats: Popularity

About The Author: Matt McGee is Editor-In-Chief of Search Engine Land. His news career includes time spent in TV, radio, and print journalism. His web career continues to include a small number of SEO and social media consulting clients, as well as regular speaking engagements at marketing events around the U.S. He blogs at Small Business Search Marketing and can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee and/or on Google Plus. You can read Matt's disclosures on his personal blog. See more articles by Matt McGee

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