Even as viewership of online video climbs, the average viewer’s behavior has changed sharply, accordingly to Nielsen Online. People who watched online video in May spent 49 percent more time on each clip than they had a year before.

Jon Gibs, Nielsen Online’s vice president for media analytics, attributed the change to a shift toward “appointment-based viewing” of TV shows or movies online, rather than casual viewing of short clips. That shift has been driven by the rise of Hulu, now the second-most-watched online video site behind YouTube, and by policy changes at YouTube that favor commercial video and longer-form amateur submissions.

via NYTimes.com.