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Microsoft and Facebook online video viewings leapt up dramatically last month, according to statistics revealed by the ComScore Video Metrix.

Approximately 169 million Internet users watched videos online in the US in February, with the total number of viewings reaching more than five billion.

Google stole the crown with a sum of 1.8 billion views from 141 million users.

Microsoft earned second position with an increase of 28 per cent of users viewing online videos, from 38.1 million in January to 48.8 million in February.

Yahoo came in close third with over 46.5 million viewers - more than the population of Spain.

Facebook saw a rise of 4.7 million viewers since January, taking their total to 46.7 million. Despite the additional viewers, which represent more than the population of the Republic of Ireland, the social networking site remained in fourth position.

As a result of increased video watching, more viewings of advertisements during videos were also recorded, with the average user seeing 30 adverts during February. Online video service Hulu recorded the highest number of adverts watched, averaging at 48 per viewer - 60 per cent more than the average across all platforms.

Microsoft is receiving further praise elsewhere and is no longer an 'evil empire', according to corporate ethics think-tank Ethisphere.

Ethisphere is dedicated to creating and advancing best practices in business ethics, and included Microsoft on its 2011 list of the 110 most ethical companies in the world. It is known that the company has donated many millions to not-for-profit organisations as well as improving internal company issues, yet the list does not provide much detail as to why else Microsoft was included on the list.

The search-engine giant Google did not feature on Ethisphere's list, due to the rule of disqualification for those who have faced considerable legal issues within the last five years, according to new business site Business Insider.

Apple, which overtook Microsoft in terms of market value in May 2010, did not feature on the list, causing website Techland to muse: 'So much for Ethisphere's theory that it pays to be ethical.'

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