5.5 billion videos were viewed online in the UK in February 2010, an increase of 37% compared to the previous year, according to new research from comScore .

Google sites, driven by the popularity of YouTube, grew 17% versus a year ago with 2.5 billion videos viewed in February 2010, further solidifying its position as the leading online video viewing property in the UK. The BBC ranked second with 140 million videos viewed on its sites followed by Megavideo.com with 53 million videos. Other properties in the top 10 were Facebook, Microsoft sites, Channel4, Dailymotion, ITV sites, Blinkx and Sky sites.

Facebook ranked as the fastest growing video property in the top 10, surging 205% in the past year to 43 million videos viewed. Blinkx was the second fastest, growing 204% to nearly 29 million videos viewed. BBC sites (up 143%), ITV sites (up 134%) and Sky sites (up 139%) also achieved triple-digit growth rates over the past year.

 “The UK online video market continues to soar and is attracting a greater and greater share of Internet users’ attention,” said Mike Read, SVP and Managing Director, comScore Europe. “In particular, we’ve seen eyeballs move towards the online channel to watch more long-form, professional video content, such as popular broadcast network TV shows.”