• by Daisy Whitney , Op-Ed Contributor, March 20, 2012

The number of online video ads viewed by Web consumers doubled year over year. In February, Americans saw 7.5 billion video ads, according to comScore’s just-released February online video figures. That’s up from 3.8 billion total video ads a year ago. And while there are variations in the number of ads delivered month by month – 5.6 billion ads delivered in January; 7.1 billion served in December, for instance – the overall trend is positive.

However, the number of overall videos seen online has remained fairly steady over the last several months. Despite the million of views that Super Bowl ads garnered online, overall online viewing dipped slightly in February  compared to the prior two months. About 179 million Web users checked out nearly 38 billion online videos in February. That’s a slight dip fromJanuary’s figures, which saw 181 million Web users watching nearly 40 billion videos. Back in December, about 182 million Internet users viewed 43.5 billion videos.

Compare those figures to just four months ago. In October, comScore reported that 184 million Web users saw 42.6 billion videos, a record then. (comScore reported views different on a year-ago basis, making year-over-year comparisons more complicated.)

So is this the moment when we freak out and say why aren’t views growing? Hardly. These are normal fluctuations — after all, October’s all-time high was bested just two months later in December with about one billion more videos viewed that month. Online video viewing appears on a steady pace. Small variations month by month are normal and what these numbers seem to suggest is that we shouldn’t look for big swings or big upticks in views.

The only issue is whether consumers will continue to tolerate the greater dosage of ads.