comScore Finds that "Second Life" Has a Rapidly Growing and Global Base of Active Residents
London, UK, 4 May 2007 – comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a comprehensive worldwide analysis of the active users of Second Life, the 3-D virtual world that is entirely built and owned by its “residents.” The study revealed that approximately 1.3 million people ran the official software and logged-in to Second Life in March 2007. This represents an increase of 46 percent in the number of active residents from January 2007.
In March, 61 percent of active Second Life residents were from Europe, compared to 19 percent from North America, and 13 percent from Asia Pacific. In addition, 61 percent of residents were male while 39 percent were female.
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Geographical Location of Second Life Residents Who Logged-in During January and March 2007 Unique People, Age 15+
Total Worldwide Audience – Home and Work Locations* Source: comScore World Metrix |
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|
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Mar-07 (000) |
Percent of Total Active Residents |
Increase In Active Residents Mar-07 vs. Jan-07 |
|
Worldwide |
1,283** |
100%** |
46% |
|
Europe |
777 |
61% |
32% |
|
Germany |
209 |
16% |
70% |
|
France |
104 |
8% |
53% |
|
UK |
72 |
6% |
24% |
|
North America |
243 |
19% |
103% |
|
USA |
207 |
16% |
92% |
|
Asia Pacific |
167 |
13% |
N/A*** |
|
Latin America |
77 |
6% |
26% |
|
Middle East & Africa |
20 |
2% |
N/A*** |
*Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.
** Sum of components may equal more than total due to rounding
*** N/A – Residents in January below minimum reporting standard
“The phenomenal growth of Second Life continues, and its presence is being felt around the world,” said Bob Ivins, Managing Director of comScore Europe. “With nearly 800,000 active residents in Europe, Second Life is proving to be popular on an international scale. It’s especially fascinating to note that the number of active German residents exceeds the number of active residents in the entire U.S. It is little wonder that bricks and mortar businesses are seeing Second Life as a virtual-world way of accessing a global, real-world customer base.”
In addition to the resident activity cited above, comScore found that the Secondlife.com website was visited by 3.6 million worldwide visitors aged 15 and older during March, up 17 percent from February and an increase of 46 percent over January. The strong visitor growth to Secondlife.com indicates continu ing and potential future growth in Second Life residents, since the software application used to access the Second Life world is only available from this site.
About comScore
comScore, Inc. is a global leader in measuring the digital world. This capability is based on a massive, global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given comScore permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behaviour, including online and offline purchasing. comScore panelists also participate in survey research that captures and integrates their attitudes and intentions. Through its proprietary technology, comScore measures what matters across a broad spectrum of behaviour and attitudes. comScore consultants apply this deep knowledge of customers and competitors to help clients design powerful marketing strategies and tactics that deliver superior ROI. comScore services are used by more than 700 clients, including global leaders such as AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Verizon, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Tribune Interactive, ESPN, Fox Sports, Nestlé, MBNA, Starcom USA, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Merck and Expedia. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com.