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.

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

* 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.   

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

Companies interested in obtaining information about comScore World Metrix services should call +44 (0) 207 099 1761.

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 Networks
comScore Networks is a global leader in measuring the digital age. 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.