Commentary
Web Audience Up 10% Since January Last Year
- by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, March 13, 2007
According to a recent comScore Networks announcement, 747 million people, fifteen and over, used the Internet worldwide in January 2007, a 10-percent increase versus January 2006. Among the top 15 countries by penetration, Internet audiences in India, the Russian Federation and China increased the most in 2006, growing 33, 21 and 20 percent, respectively. China now represents the second-largest Internet population in the world, with 86.8 million users, after the U.S., which rose 2 percent year-over-year to 153.4 million users age 15 or older in January 2007.
Bob Ivins, managing director, comScore Europe, said "Internet users outside the U.S. now account for 80 percent of the world's online population, with rapidly developing countries experiencing double-digit growth rates year-over-year."
comScore ranked the top 10 countries ranked by average hours online per visitor for January 2007. Canada led the list with the average user spending 39.6 hours (and 41.3 hours/ month among broadband users) online during the month. The balance of the top 5 were Israel, South Korea, the U.S. and the U.K., significantly countries with high broadband penetration. In each of the top 10 countries, the time spent online by users with a broadband connection was substantially greater than the time spent by users with a narrowband connection.
Ivins commented, "We have all believed that 'always-on' broadband connections stimulate usage - this study empirically confirms that conclusion."
Top 15 Countries by Internet Penetration(Unique Visitors Age 15+* Total Worldwide) | |||
Jan-06 (000) | Jan-07 (000) | Percentage Change | |
Worldwide | 676,878 | 746,934 | 10% |
United States | 150,897 | 153,447 | 2% |
China | 72,408 | 86,757 | 20% |
Japan | 51,450 | 53,670 | 4% |
Germany | 31,209 | 32,192 | 3% |
United Kingdom | 29,773 | 30,072 | 1% |
South Korea | 24,297 | 26,350 | 8% |
France | 23,712 | 24,560 | 4% |
India | 15,867 | 21,107 | 33% |
Canada | 18,332 | 20,392 | 11% |
Italy | 15,987 | 18,106 | 13% |
Brazil | 12,845 | 14,964 | 16% |
Spain | 12,206 | 12,710 | 4% |
Russian Federation | 10,471 | 12,707 | 21% |
Netherlands | 10,772 | 11,077 | 3% |
Mexico | 8,624 | 10,149 | 18% |
Source: comScore World Metrix | |||
* Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.
Top 10 Countries by Average Monthly Hours Online (Broadband vs. Narrowband(Total Worldwide Visitors Age 15+* January 2007) | ||||
Average Monthly Hours Online (per Unique Visitor) | ||||
Unique Visitors Rank | Among All Users | Among Broadband Users | Among Narrowband Users | |
Canada | 9 | 39.6 | 41.3 | 14.2 |
Israel | 28 | 37.4 | 38.8 | 10.9 |
South Korea | 6 | 34.0 | 36.1 | N/A** |
United States | 1 | 31.6 | 37.2 | 13.5 |
United Kingdom | 5 | 31.2 | 35.6 | 7.5 |
Chile | 20 | 30.9 | 38.6 | 12.6 |
Brazil | 11 | 30.2 | 38.5 | 17.0 |
Finland | 30 | 28.7 | 34.2 | N/A** |
Spain | 12 | 27.9 | 33.4 | 9.1 |
Sweden | 21 | 27.5 | 31.4 | 9.7 |
Source: comScore World Metrix | ||||
* Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.
** Level of narrowband penetration extremely low, therefore an accurate reportable estimate is not available.
comScore also reported the top worldwide Web properties for January, ranked by unique visitors. Microsoft Sites topped the list with 510.3 million worldwide visitors, followed by Google Sites and Yahoo! Sites
Top 15 Online Properties Worldwide, Among Visitors Age 15+* (January 2007 Total Worldwide - All Locations) | |
Unique Visitors (000) | |
Worldwide Total | 746,934 |
Microsoft Sites | 510,320 |
Google Sites | 502,464 |
Yahoo! Sites | 467,832 |
Time Warner Network | 262,413 |
eBay | 248,854 |
Wikipedia Sites | 189,003 |
Amazon Sites | 149,817 |
Fox Interactive Media | 139,821 |
CNET Networks | 118,717 |
Apple Computer, Inc. | 116,520 |
Ask Network | 108,870 |
Adobe Sites | 101,810 |
Lycos, Inc. | 90,208 |
Viacom Digital | 76,389 |
New York Times Digital | 72,180 |
Source: comScore World Metrix | |
*Excludes traffic from public computers such as internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.
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Jack Loechner is the Editor of The Center for Media Research's daily Research Brief. You can reach him at jack@mediapost.com.