TOKYO, Jan 15, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ --

comScore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a study of Web-based email usage in Japan, which showed that the number of visitors to email sites increased 22 percent during the past year, fueled in large part by greater adoption among older Internet users.

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"The increase in visitation to email sites has largely been driven by an increase in usage among the older age segments, reflecting the maturation of the Internet as a communication vehicle," said Maru Sato, managing director of comScore Japan. "As the demographic composition of online users continues to expand, marketers will have the opportunity to reach and influence audiences online that previously were only reachable through offline media."

Older Segments Increase in Usage of Email, While Younger Segments Decline

An analysis of email usage by age revealed that older age segments were largely responsible for the growth in the email category during the past year. The number of people age 55 and older using Web-based email grew 88 percent during the past year to 7 million users in November and now accounts for more than 20 percent of all visitors to the email site category. This age group spends the most time per person on email sites at 121 minutes per visitor in November, up 11 percent from the prior year. Internet users between the ages of 45-54 also contributed to significant growth in email usage, increasing 20 percent to 5.5 million visitors in November, while their usage increased 108 percent to 108 minutes per visitor.

Though email usage has increased considerably among older age segments, the story is quite different among those under the age of 35. The younger demographic segments either decreased or witnessed very little increase in visits to email sites, which can likely be attributed to a greater reliance on alternate communication channels including social media and accessing email via mobile devices. The most dramatic decline in the email category was observed among the youngest segment, the 15-24 year olds, with 7 percent fewer visitors and a 34-percent decrease in minutes per visitor.

    Email Category Age Demographic Analysis
    November 2008 vs. November 2007
    Total Japan, Age 15+ - Home and Work Locations*
    Source: comScore World Metrix

                      Total Unique Visitors (000)    Minutes per Visitor

                     Nov-2007   Nov-2008 % Change  Nov-2007  Nov-2008 % Change
    Total Audience    26,493     32,396      22      67.7      84.7      25
    Persons - Age
      Persons: 15-24   5,289      4,900      -7      70.3      46.1     -34
      Persons: 25-34   7,307      7,557       3      57.8      63.9      11
      Persons: 35-44   5,568      7,386      33      63.8      80.0      26
      Persons: 45-54   4,576      5,511      20      51.8     107.6     108
      Persons: 55+     3,753      7,042      88     108.7     120.6      11

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

Yahoo! Mail Leads Email Category

In November 2008, 32.4 million people in Japan visited Web-based email sites, up 22 percent versus year ago. Yahoo! Mail led the email category by a large margin with nearly 27 million visitors, an increase of 23 percent, followed by Windows Live Hotmail with 7.1 million visitors and Google Gmail with nearly 2.7 million visitors (up 59 percent).

    Top 5 Email Sites by Number of Unique Japanese Visitors
    November 2008 vs. November 2007
    Total Japan, Age 15+ - Home and Work Locations*
    Source: comScore World Metrix
                                          Total Unique Visitors (000)

    Property                        Nov-2007        Nov-2008        % Change
    Total Internet : Total Audience  54,153          59,198             9
    e-mail                           26,493          32,396            22
    Yahoo! Mail                      21,838          26,891            23
    Windows Live Hotmail              8,528           7,135           -16
    Google Gmail                      1,714           2,720            59
    Goo Mail                          1,145           1,806            58
    Nifty Mail                          306             181           -41

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

About comScore

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit http://www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

SOURCE comScore, Inc.

http://www.comscore.com

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