New evidence suggest that visits to online video sites have risen drammatically in the last year, aided in part by the ongoing writer's strike and lack of new material on TV.

A pair of recent studies by Nielson Online and Pew Internet and American Life Project show an increasing number of Americans visiting online web sites -- including amateur sites where they watch and post videos -- in the last year and some sites such as YouTube and Crackle spiking upward in visits cooinciding with the writer's strike that started in late October.

And some companies, like Blockbuster, say they expect customers to rent more DVDs, as the television content grows stale with the elongated strike.

According to Nielsen Online, sites like YouTube and Crackle, have experienced unprecedented growth in the two months since the strike began. YouTube's a