comScore Networks, a firm that measures the digital age, has found that 747 million people, age 15 and over used the Internet worldwide in January 2007. This is a 10 percent increase over January 2006.
Out of the top 15 countries, ranked by penetration, Internet audiences in India grew the most with an increase of 33 percent. This was followed by the Russian Federation, which grew its Internet audience by 21 percent and trailed by China, which increased by 20 percent.
China currently represents the second-largest Internet population in the world with 86.8 million users. The US remains the leader and saw only 2 percent growth in its Internet audience which totals 153. 4 million users age 15 or older in January 2007.
“The importance of the worldwide Internet population continues to grow,” said Bob Ivins, managing director, comScore Europe. “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 also ranked the top 10 countries by the average time spent online for January 2007. Canada topped the list with the average user spending 39.6 hours online during the month. Others in the top 5 include Israel with the average user spending 37.4 hours online, followed by South Korea with 34.0 hours, the US with 31.6 and the UK rounding out the top 5 with 31.2.
Out of the top 10 countries, users with a broadband connection spent a significantly greater time online than those without broadband.
“We have all believed that ‘always-on’ broadband connections stimulate usage — this study empirically confirms that conclusion,” Ivins commented.
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 with 502.5 million worldwide visitors, and Yahoo! Sites with 467.8 million worldwide visitors.
Top 15 Online Properties Worldwide,
Among Visitors Age 15+*
January 2007
Total Worldwide - All Locations
Source: comScore World Metrix
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
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