Global internet audience crosses 1 billion

27 Jan 2009

1

The number of worldwide internet users passed the 1-billion mark for the first time in December, according to online researcher ComScore, which tracks global internet traffic.

The Asia-Pacific region accounted for the highest share of global Internet users at 41 per cent, followed by Europe- 28 per cent, North America 18 per cent, Latin-America 7 per cent share, and the Middle East & Africa 5 per cent.

China represented the largest online audience in the world in December 2008 with 180 million users, representing nearly 18 per cent of the total worldwide internet audience, followed by the US (16.2 per cent share), Japan (6.0 per cent share), Germany (3.7 per cent share) and the U.K. (3.6 per cent share).

ComScore CEO, Magid Abraham said, ''Surpassing 1 billion global users is a significant landmark in the history of the internet, the second billion will be online before we know it, and the third billion will arrive even faster than that.''

Google was the most popular site in the world, which had 777.9 million visitors followed by Microsoft's sites, which had 647 million visitors and Yahoo sites, 563 million.

Chinese Internet audience for the first time outranked the US and had the largest internet audience, with 180 million Internet users in December or 18 per cent, followed by the US, with 163 million users, or a share of 16.2 per cent, while Japan had the third-largest online audience, with 60 million users, or 6 per cent, Germany came in fourth, with 3.7 per cent and the U.K was fifth, with 3.6 per cent.

Other countries trying to catch up with the Internet usage included countries like France with 34 million, India with 32.1 million, Russia with 29 million, Brazil with 27.7 million, South Korea with 27.3 million, Canada with 21.8 million and Italy with 20.8 million.

ComScore's data revealed that Facebook has become extremely popular and has grown by 127 per cent in the past year to 222 million visitors, making it as the top social networking site.

ComScore however said that the data excluded traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

Total Worldwide Internet Audience: Regional Breakdown

Region

Total Unique Visitors (000)

Share of Total Worldwide Internet Audience (%)

Worldwide

1,007,730

100.0%

Asia Pacific

416,281

41.3%

Europe

282,651

28.0%

North America

185,109

18.4%

Latin America

74,906

7.4%

Middle East & Africa

48,783

4.8%

Top 15 Countries by Internet Audience

Country

Total Unique Visitors (000)

Share of Total Worldwide Internet Audience (%)

Worldwide

1,007,730

100.0%

China

179,710

17.8%

United States

163,300

16.2%

Japan

59,993

6.0%

Germany

36,992

3.7%

United Kingdom

36,664

3.6%

France

34,010

3.4%

India

32,099

3.2%

Russia

28,998

2.9%

Brazil

27,688

2.7%

South Korea

27,254

2.7%

Canada

21,809

2.2%

Italy

20,780

2.1%

Spain

17,893

1.8%

Mexico

12,486

1.2%

Netherlands

11,812

1.2%


Top 15 Worldwide Properties

Property

Total Unique Visitors (000)

% Reach of Total Worldwide Internet Audience

Total Worldwide Internet Audience

1,007,730

100.0%

Google Sites

775,980

77.0%

Microsoft Sites

646,915

64.2%

Yahoo! Sites

562,571

55.8%

AOL LLC

273,020

27.1%

Wikimedia Foundation Sites

272,998

27.1%

eBay

240,947

23.9%

Facebook.COM

221,791

22.0%

Amazon Sites

187,354

18.6%

CBS Corporation

178,844

17.7%

Fox Interactive Media

172,841

17.2%

Ask Network

164,513

16.3%

Apple Inc.

161,500

16.0%

Tencent Inc.

158,617

15.7%

Baidu.com Inc.

152,447

15.1%

Adobe Sites

123,623

12.3%

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