According to Rentrak, disc rentals remained the first choice for home video viewing in the U.S. in 2011. Despite the popularity of online streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, movie rental revenues topped $5.65 billion. However, that will not be the case for much longer. Although the movie rental industry profited, overall disc rental revenues in the U.S. dropped. In the fourth quarter, the DVD and Blu-ray rental market was down by 21.3%.

Yahoo has taken steps to improve its video broadcasting, and has appointed three video content executives to help revamp the company's broadcasting unit. Yahoo has appointed John D. Hayes, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of American Express Company; Peter Liguori, former Chief Operating Officer of Discovery Communications, Inc. and former Chairman and President of Entertainment of Fox Broadcasting Network; and Thomas J. McInerney, the outgoing Chief Financial Officer of IAC/InterActiveCorp.

The latest statistics fom Nielsen have revealed the ever growing strength of the online video industry in the US. According to the research firm's latest findings, there were 166.9 million unique U.S. video viewers, who streamed almost 22 billion videos in the month of November. Furthermore, each viewer spent an average of 5 hours watching online video.

Facebook now ranks as the third largest video site on the Web in terms of unique viewers according to comScore, with an estimated 51.5 million people on Facebook watching a video during the month of July. 

Google Inc has entered into preliminary negotiations to acquire online video portal Hulu, Los Angeles Times has reported, citing people familiar with the situation. Google is making a major push to add professionally produced content to its mix of user-created videos on YouTube.