Worldwide Internet Audience has Grown 10 Percent in Last Year, According to comScore Networks

India, China and Russia Experience Highest Audience Growth Rates Year-over-Year; Canada, Israel, and Korea Log the Most Time Online

London, U.K., March 6, 2007 – comScore Networks, a leader in measuring the digital age, today announced that 747 million people, age 15+, used the Internet worldwide in January 2007, a 10-percent increase versus January 2006. Among the top 15 countries (ranked 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.

“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.”

Canada, Israel, and South Korea Lead the World in Online Engagement

As a measure of engagement, comScore also analyzed 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. Rounding out the top 5 were Israel, South Korea, the U.S. and the U.K. – all countries with high broadband penetration. In fact, 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.

“We have all believed that ‘always-on’ broadband connections stimulate usage – this study empirically confirms that conclusion,” Ivins commented.

Top 15 Countries by Internet Penetration Unique Visitors Age 15+* January 2007 vs. January 2006 Total Worldwide – All Locations Source: comScore World Metrix
	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%

* Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

Top 10 Countries by Average Monthly Hours Online per Unique Visitor Broadband vs. Narrowband Among Visitors Age 15+* January 2007 Total Worldwide – All Locations Source: comScore World Metrix
		Average Monthly Hours Online
	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

* 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.

Top Global Properties

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

Excludes traffic from public computers such as internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

Source: ComScore