More and more people are using online video sharing sites such as YouTube, a new report has suggested.

Nielsen Online suggested that the writers' strike has driven people to use video sharing site more. According to the company, Google-owed YouTube has seen an 18 percent traffic surge in the two months since the writers' strike began in November. Analyst Alex Burmaster commented: "That is greater growth than you would normally see in such a short period and the strike could be a possible factor."

In a separate report, Pew Internet found that 48 percent of US internet users have now been to video-sharing sites such as YouTube and the popularity of these sites has doubled in the past year. The data also showed that around 15 percent of internet users went on video sharing sites most days. The report added: "On an average day, the number of users of video sites nearly doubled from the end of 2006 to the end of 2007."