Metrics 2.0: Worldwide Internet Audience Jumps 10% to 747 million; China No.2 with 87M Users

Worldwide Internet audience has grown 10% in last year to 747 million people, age 15+, in January 2007, according to comScore Networks. Among the top 15 countries, Internet audiences in India, the Russian Federation and China increased the most in 2006, growing 33%, 21% and 20%, respectively.

China now represents the second-largest Internet population in the world, with 86.8 million users. U.S. leads with 153.4 million users, which rose 2% year-over-year in January 2007. Internet users outside the U.S. now account for 80% of the world’s online population.

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.

Top 15 Countries by Internet Penetration (Unique Visitors Age 15+) January 2007 vs. January 2006 (Source: comScore World Metrix* )
	Jan-06 (000)	Jan-07 (000)	Percentage Change
*Worldwide*	676,878	746,934	10%
United States	150,897	153,447	2%
China	72,408	86,757	20%
Japan	51,450	53,670	4%
Germany	31,209	32,192	3%
United Kingdom	29,773	30,072	1%
South Korea	24,297	26,350	8%
France	23,712	24,560	4%
India	15,867	21,107	33%
Canada	18,332	20,392	11%
Italy	15,987	18,106	13%
Brazil	12,845	14,964	16%
Spain	12,206	12,710	4%
Russian Federation	10,471	12,707	21%
Netherlands	10,772	11,077	3%
Mexico	8,624	10,149	18%

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

Top Global Properties: 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.

Top 15 Online Properties Worldwide, Among Visitors Age 15+* January 2007 (Source: comScore World Metrix )
	Unique Visitors (000)
*Worldwide Total*	746,934
Microsoft Sites	510,320
Google Sites	502,464
Yahoo! Sites	467,832
Time Warner Network	262,413
eBay	248,854
Wikipedia Sites	189,003
Amazon Sites	149,817
Fox Interactive Media	139,821
CNET Networks	118,717
Apple Computer, Inc.	116,520
Ask Network	108,870
Adobe Sites	101,810
Lycos, Inc.	90,208
Viacom Digital	76,389
New York Times Digital	72,180

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

Business & Market Intelligence

Worldwide Internet Audience Jumps 10% to 747 million; China No.2 with 87M Users