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Online video delivers a significantly higher return for marketers when consumers share them with friends through social media. Considered a hybrid between online video advertising and social networking, the social video space is rapidly becoming one of the most valuable channels for Web professionals.

The Jun Group, a New York City-based social video solutions provider, recently released a study identifying the top trends to watch in the category. The data was compiled from more than six million user-initiated video views that resulted from social video campaigns the Jun Group executed for Fortune 500 brands and major entertainment companies during the latter half of 2010.

The study's key findings were as follows:

•    Shorter is better. Social video ads of 15 seconds or less are shared nearly 37 percent more than those between :30 seconds and one minute, and 18 percent more than videos over a minute long.

•    Facebook dominates. People share videos on Facebook 218 percent more than through Twitter and e-mail combined.

•    CPGs lead the way. Consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies are leading the social video charge. CPG companies are driving nearly 19 percent more social video views than consumer electronics, retail and media & entertainment brands combined. Food and beverage brands are also embracing social video, but drove less than one-third of the views CPG companies are experiencing.

•    Generation Y. More than 55 percent of social video is viewed by 18- to 34-year-olds and the average age of social video consumers is nearly identical at 27 years old.

•    Girl power. Women account for nearly 57 percent of social video views and share social video 30 percent more than men.

•    Southerners watch and Midwesterners share. People in the South watch more social video than any other region in the U.S.: 29 percent more than the East Coast, nearly 32 percent more than the West Coast and 60 percent higher than the Midwest. Midwesterners, however, share video at a higher rate than any other part of the country by nearly a quarter (23 percent). The next highest region is the South.<p>

•    E-mail in the East. People on the East Coast share more video by e-mail than any other part of the country by 15 percent.

“Social video is one of the most effective ways advertisers can reach their consumers on social networks,” said Mitchell Reichgut, founder and CEO of Jun Group. “It’s an exciting new medium that brings guaranteed engagement and tremendous amounts of sharing. The data from this study provides some insights into the composition of the audience, and the ways they like to interact.”