Bird’s Eye View of the Web in March
Nielsen Online and comScore Media Metrix offered various rankings and data concerning the Internet, from a broader perspective. Regarding the top 10 parent companies in March 2008, Nielsen Online pegged Google atop the list with a unique U.S. home and work audience of 128 million, with each person spending an average of 1:43:21 on its sites during the month. Microsoft came in second with 124 million unique users, each spending about 2:21:42 on its sites during March. Yahoo! was third with 116 million unique users, each spending 3:12:30 on its sites.
Time Warner (108 million/3:44:09), News Corp. Online (79.0 million/2:02:36), eBay (67.5 million/1:53:26), InterActiveCorp (65.7 million/0:23:22), Amazon (55.3 million/0:26:49), Wikimedia Foundation (54.6 million/0:18:37), and Walt Disney Internet Group (51.0 million/0:42:17) rounded out the top 10 list.
The top 10 brands (defined as consolidations of “multiple domains and URLs that [have] a consistent collection of branded content”), according to Nielsen Online, were: Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, MSN/Windows Live, AOL Media Network, YouTube, Fox Interactive Media, eBay, Wikipedia, and Apple.
Nielsen Online also laid out a table organizing mildly interesting figures describing the average U.S. Internet usage (combined home and work) during the month of March 2008. Sessions/Visits per Person were pegged at 60 for March, compared to 58 in February. About 105 domains were visited per person in March, compared to 104 in February, while 2,437 Web pages were visited per person in March, reflecting a 2.8% increase from February’s 2,370. The PC Time per Person also saw a slight uptick, from 17:38:32 in February to 19:42:28 in March. Might part of this increase be due to March Madness?
In addition, Nielsen Online offered some information about the average Web user in the U.S. during March. Though 51.35% of the online population was female, males spent more time (70:46:57 vs. 64:47:10) on their PCs, had more sessions (62 vs. 58%), and viewed more Web pages (2,622 vs. 2,264) during the month. A large portion of Web users (49%) were between the ages of 35 – 64 years of age. This age group also spent the most time on their PCs.
According to comScore Media Metrix, Yahoo! Sites were the top Web property in March, drawing a unique audience of 140 million in March, followed by Google Sites with 137 million unique visitors. Microsoft Sites (121 million) was third, followed by AOL LLC (112 million), Fox Interactive Media (88.2 million), eBay (81.9 million), Wikipedia Sites (58.7 million), Amazon Sites (58.7 million), Ask Network (55.4 million), and Time Warner – Excluding AOL (55.1 million) to round out the top 10.
Yellow Book Network saw its audience grow 54% from February to March, while MLB.com saw its audience grow 50%. In terms of the top gaining categories, Entertainment – Radio (27%) saw significant growth from February to March, as did Gay Lesbian (26%).
Sources:
http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/pr/pr_080414.pdf
