I was just glancing at the top 100 sites according to web ranking system at Alexa. I extremely surprised to see the high rankings of several video sites. Even more surprising was the amount of file storage sites.

Obviously, YouTube is no stranger to traffic and user submissions. However I was shocked to see Megavideo and Veoh. As well as porn sites YouPorn and Redtube (which I won’t link for obvious reasons!).

Amongst the filesharing sites and storage sites there were plenty.

I’m am sure I am overlooking many, just because I didn’t recognize some of the sites or I didn’t look too hard. I bet the number increases dramatically when you dig down into Alexa’s top 500.

The point I am trying to make is that every industry needs to look at video as a legitimate contender online. I know - it’s no shocking revelation, but I was surprised at the popularity of some of these sites. The file storage sites undoubtedly host pirated content.

Piracy can not be avoided because it is convenient and it’s free. Sure, most people are willing to pay a couple bucks to rent a DVD. But they would rather download it free and watch it immediately, as oppose to driving to the video store or waiting three days for NetFlix.