The latest data from website research firm Hitwise has found that market leader YouTube has consolidated its lead, with visits tripling in the last three months to give it a 63% market share.
Second-placed Google Video Search has also performed well, seeing its market share increase by 49%. Third place MySpace Video's share has increased fourfold since March.
According to Hitwise, the World Cup has been a crucial to the success of these sites, with You Tube's daily visits peaking on 17 June, two days after England beat Trinidad & Tobago at the tournament and a day after Argentina thumped Serbia & Montenegro 6-0. Visits to Metacafe, which has a 5% market share, peaked on June 9, the day of the World Cup kick off.
A close analysis of search terms at You Tube showed that among the most popular were "Peter Crouch robot dance", "Ronaldinho" and "World Cup 2006".
The move also shows that advertisers are already reaping the benefits from the growth of video sharing with the "Nike advert Brazil team", referring to a recent TV spot for the sports brand's "Joga Bonita" campaign, also featuring among You Tube's most popular search terms.
Heather Hopkins, Hitwise UK's director of research, said: "Video-sharing sites are growing rapidly in popularity and offer an opportunity to reach customers through a viral and rich media.
"Nike Football's Joga Bonita is a prime example of a video campaign that was boosted through video sharing sites and which allowed Nike football to build its brand online in the lead-up to the World Cup. Hitwise has seen searches for the Nike football brand sour along with searches for videos in the series."
This week, it emerged that MSN is considering the launch of a dedicated video sharing website, which will be separate from its online community site MSN Spaces.
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