RESTON, Va., April 16, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ -- comScore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a report on the U.S. Hispanic Internet market, finding that the Hispanic online population reached a record 20.3 million visitors in February 2009, representing 11 percent of the total U.S. online market. During the past year, the growth of the U.S Hispanic Internet audience outpaced that of the total U.S. online population in terms of number of visitors, time spent and pages consumed, as Hispanic online adoption and engagement accelerated.

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"It's well known that the Hispanic market is a growing and increasingly important segment to advertisers and marketers," said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix. "However, any business attempting to effectively reach this segment needs to understand the behavior of the U.S. Hispanic online consumer as a fundamental component of their marketing and media strategies."

Hispanic Online Audience Growing Faster than Total U.S. Internet Market

The U.S. Hispanic online population reached 20.3 million visitors in February 2009, an increase of 6 percent from the previous year. Hispanic Internet users also exhibited a surge in online engagement, including strong increases in time spent and pages consumed. The total amount of time spent online by Hispanics increased 6.9 percent in 2009 (3.9 times faster than the total U.S. online population), while total pages consumed grew 6 percent (3.6 times faster than the total U.S. population).

    Growth in Internet Usage: U.S. Hispanic Internet Population vs.
    Total U.S. Internet Population
    February 2009 vs. February 2008
    Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations
    Source: comScore Media Metrix
                                              Percent Change
                                          Feb-2009 vs. Feb-2008


                                         Total U.S.     Total U.S.
                                          Internet       Hispanic
                                          Audience       Internet
                                                         Audience
    Total Unique Visitors                     3.9%           5.8%
    Total Minutes                             1.4%           6.9%
    Average Minutes per Usage Day             4.4%           7.7%
    Total Pages Viewed                        1.3%           6.0%
    Total Visits                             -1.8%           5.4%
    Average Visits per Usage Day              1.1%           6.1%

U.S. Hispanics are Heavy Online Entertainment Consumers

Though they represent 11 percent of the total U.S. online audience, Hispanics account for just 9 percent of total time spent online. To understand where Hispanics are most likely to consume content online, the study looked at the site categories where they spent an above average share of their online time.

The top ranked category was Community - Teens, where U.S. Hispanics accounted for 18 percent of total time spent in the category, followed by Gaming Information at 13 percent. Other entertainment- and leisure-related categories were heavily represented on the list, including Radio (13 percent), Multimedia (12 percent), Discussion/Chat (11 percent), Instant Messengers (11 percent) and Music (11 percent).

    U.S. Hispanics' Share of Total Time Spent in
    Online Site Categories
    February 2009
    Total U.S. - Home, Work and
    University Locations
    Source: comScore Media Metrix

                              U.S. Hispanics'
                               Share of Time
                               Spent Within
                               Site Category
    Community - Teens                    18%
    Gaming Information                   13%
    Entertainment - Radio                13%
    Entertainment - Multimedia           12%
    Services - Discussion/Chat           11%
    Services - Instant Messengers        11%
    Community - Lifestyles               11%
    Entertainment - Music                11%
    Retail - Computer Software           11%
    Retail - Music                       11%

"Though U.S. Hispanics are less engaged Internet users on average, they do show a predilection for communication and entertainment online - high engagement activities that offer a potentially strong marketing opportunity," added Flanagan.

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 www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

SOURCE comScore, Inc.

http://www.comscore.com

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