April 2009

World’s online audience hits one billion visitors

According to ComScore Inc., the total Internet audience surpassed one billion visitors worldwide for the first time in December, according to new marketing research data.

The research firm tracked home and business traffic — but not public computers at Internet cafes and users accessing the Internet through mobile telephones or other handheld devices.

It determined that 41 percent of Internet users 15 or older live in the Asia-Pacific region. In second position was the US with 163.3 million (16.2 percent) unique Internet users, behind China, which had 179.7 million (17.8 percent) unique users.

Behind them, the next largest online audiences were measured in Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom; followed by France, India, Russia, Brazil, South Korea, Canada, Italy, Spain, Mexico and the Netherlands.

“The second billion will be online before we know it, and the third billion will arrive even faster than that until we have a truly global network of interconnected people and ideas that transcend borders and cultural boundaries,” Magid Abraham, president and CEO of comScore said in a statement.
From a continent perspective:

• Europe had 282.6 million unique users and accounted for 28 percent of the total Internet audience.
• North America had 185.1 million users and accounted for 18.4 percent of the total Internet audience.
• Latin America had 74.9 million Internet users, or 7.4 percent of the total.
• Africa and the Middle East had 48.7 million Internet users, or 4.8 percent of the total.

Google Web sites attracted 777.9 million visitors representing 77 percent of the total worldwide Internet audience. Facebook.com was the most popular social networking Web site and the seventh most popular Web site in the world.