London, U.K., April 10, 2007 – comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, today reported the latest worldwide rankings of top Web properties from its World Metrix service. The rankings are based on unique visitors and also “average visits per visitor,” using a new suite of “visits” metrics.   A “visit” is a frequency measure and indicator of user engagement defined as an individual’s set of interactions with a specific Web site.  In counting visits, if an individual does not interact with the site for at least a 30-minute period, that visit will be defined as having been concluded and a new visit will be counted when the individual next accesses the site.  Included among the new suite of metrics are total visits, average minutes per visit, average visits per visitor, and average visits per usage day.

  

While each of the “visits” metrics offers a different measure of frequency, “average visits per visitor” is the most illustrative of return visits per individual during the course of a month.  Used in concert with the “unique visitors” metric, this measure can help give a more comprehensive view of a site’s performance.

 

As seen below in Table 1, February’s worldwide list of sites ranked by average visits per visitor was dominated by Asian sites, which represented the three most engaging sites by this measure: NHN Corporation (also the 47th most-visited site worldwide in February based on unique visitors), TENCENT Inc. (the 21^st most-visited site), and Rising.com.cn (the 89^th most-visited site).

 

A comparison of the rankings by average visits per visitor and by unique visitors shows a marked difference between the two.  Only five of the Top 10 sites ranked by unique visitors (Google Sites, Microsoft Sites, Yahoo! Sites, Time Warner Network and Fox Interactive Media) appeared in the Top 10 list of sites ranked by average visits per visitor.  The remaining sites on the Top 10 list ranked by average visits per visitor appear  lower in the ranking based on unique visitors. Specifically,  in addition to the aforementioned Asian sites, Facebook.com was the sixth-most engaging site worldwide (as measured by Average Visits per Visitor), but only the 73rd most-visited site in February, and the Web-hosting company United-Internet Sites was the eighth most-engaging property, but only the 79^th most-visited site.

 

TABLE 1

Top 10 Global Properties Ranked by Average Visits per Visitor* Worldwide Unique Visitors, Age 15+ February 2007 Total Worldwide – Home and Work Locations**  Source: comScore World Metrix
Property	Average Visits/Visitor	Total Unique Visitors (000)	Rank in Top 100 by UV
Total Internet Visits	54	739,835	N/A
NHN Corporation	33	30,077	47
TENCENT Inc.	31	53,175	21
RISING.COM.CN	29	22,254	89
Google Sites	24	503,033	2
Microsoft Sites	22	507,317	1
FACEBOOK.COM	22	24,782	73
Yahoo! Sites	21	458,985	3
United-Internet Sites	13	23,853	79
Time Warner Network	13	256,242	4
Fox Interactive Media	12	140,500	8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes and access from mobile phones or PDAs
** Ranking based on the top 100 Worldwide properties in February 2007

 

TABLE 2

Top Global Web Properties Ranked by Total Unique Visitors (000), Age 15+ * February 2007 Total Worldwide - Home and Work Locations Source: comScore World Metrix
Web Properties	Total Unique Visitors (000)
Worldwide Total (Age 15+)	739,835
Microsoft Sites	507,317
Google Sites	503,033
Yahoo! Sites	458,985
Time Warner Network	256,242
eBay	248,558
Wikipedia Sites	192,176
Amazon Sites	143,084
Fox Interactive Media	140,500
CNET Networks	116,394
Apple Computer, Inc.	111,877
Ask Network	108,663
Adobe Sites	98,748
Lycos, Inc.	86,581
Viacom Digital	76,625
New York Times Digital	70,984

* Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes and access from mobile phones or PDAs
** Ranking based on the top 100 Worldwide properties in February 2007

About comScore World Metrix
comScore World Metrix is the first service to continuously measure and report online behaviour on a world-wide basis, providing visitation metrics and demographic characteristics for Web site audiences around the world.  With active representation of countries that comprise the vast majority of the global Internet population, World Metrix provides its clients with worldwide Internet population estimates and harmonized online performance metrics based on a consistent methodology across all countries.  More than 100 clients subscribe to comScore’s World Metrix service, including 8 of the top 10 interactive advertising agencies.

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 panellists 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 global leaders such as AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Verizon, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Tribune Interactive, ESPN, Fox Sports, Nestlé, MBNA, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Merck and Expedia.  For more information, please visit www.comscore.com.