694 Million People Used the Internet in March

694 Million People Used the Internet in March

In the recent announcement of the launch of comScore World Metrix, by comScore, they included data representing 694 million people, age 15+, from countries that comprise 99 percent of the global Internet population. This 14 percent of the world's total population in this age group used the Internet worldwide from all locations in March 2006.

The comScore World Metrix includes measurement of the major Asian countries, including China, Japan, India and Korea, which represent nearly 25 percent of the total worldwide online population (or 168.1 million users), and which, in the aggregate, are 11 percent larger than the U.S. (152 million users).

Peter Daboll, president and CEO of comScore Media Metrix, notes that "Today, the online audience in the U.S. represents less than a quarter of Internet users across the globe, versus ten years ago when it accounted for two-thirds of the global audience."

Top 15 Worldwide Online Populations by Country, Among Visitors Age 15+
	Unique Visitors (000)
Worldwide Total	694,260
United States	152,046
China	74,727
Japan	52,100
Germany	31,813
United Kingdom	30,190
South Korea	24,645
France	23,884
Canada	18,996
Italy	16,834
India	16,713
Brazil	13,186
Spain	12,452
Netherlands	10,969
Russia	10,833
Australia	9,735
Source: comScore World Metrix, March 2006
Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafe and, access from  mobile phones or PDAs.

The report also shows the top 15 countries ranked by average hours spent online per visitor for March 2006. Israel led the list, with the average user spending 57.5 hours online during the month - twice as much time compared to the average person in the U.S, which did not rank in the top 15 countries.

Average Monthly Hours Online per Unique Visitor in Top 15 Countries (Visitors Age 15+)
	Avg. Hours per Visitor March 2006
Worldwide	31.3
Israel	57.5
Finland	49.3
South Korea	47.2
Netherlands	43.5
Taiwan, Province of China	43.2
Sweden	41.4
Brazil	41.2
Hong Kong	41.2
Portugal	39.8
Canada	38.4
Germany	37.2
Denmark	36.8
France	36.8
Norway	35.4
Venezuela	35.3
Source: comScore World Metrix, March 2006
Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafe and, access from  mobile phones or PDAs.

And, in a sneak preview of the top 15 media properties worldwide, the release notes that MSN- Microsoft Sites topped the list with 538.6 million global users, while Yahoo! Sites led all global properties in page views with 137.2 billion page views during March.

Mr. Daboll commented, "While the "big three" properties remain consistent among worldwide and U.S. audiences, Wikipedia has emerged as a site that continues to increase in popularity, both globally and in the U.S. ..."

Top 15 Online Properties Worldwide (Visitors Age 15+ March 2006)
	Unique Visitors (000)
Worldwide Total	694,260
MSN-Microsoft Sites	538,578
Google Sites	495,788
Yahoo! Sites	480,228
eBay	269,690
Time Warner Network	241,525
Amazon Sites	154,640
Wikipedia Sites	131,949
Ask Network	127,377
Adobe Sites	115,774
Lycos, Inc.	109,394
CNET Networks	107,589
Apple Computer, Inc.	98,622
Real.com Network	78,104
Monster Worldwide	74,152
Wanadoo Sites	73,446
Source: comScore World Metrix, March 2006
Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafe and, access from  mobile phones or PDAs.