comScore, (NASDAQ: SCOR), today released several key findings from its “Digital World: State of the Internet” report. The study highlights the changing dynamics of worldwide Internet usage, as it has grown from a U.S.-centric medium to its currently global landscape.
In January 2008, the Asia Pacific region had more than 300 million Internet users at least 15 years of age accessing the Internet from work and home computers.
This represents an increase of 14 percent versus year ago and makes Asia Pacific the largest of the five worldwide regions. Latin America and Middle East-Africa have also experienced above average audience growth during the past year, while North America and Europe have grown at more modest rates.
Worldwide Internet Audience (000) – January 2008 vs. January 2007
Region Jan-07 Jan-08 Percent Change
Worldwide – 746,934 – 824,435 – 10.4%
Asia Pacific – 271,192 – 308,817 – 13.9%
Europe – 218,063 – 232,866 – 6.8%
North America – 173,839 – 183,823 – 5.7%
Latin America – 50,641- 59,025 – 16.6%
Middle East/Africa – 33,199 – 39,904 – 20.2%
Total Worldwide, Age 15+ -= Home and Work Locations*
Source: comScore World Metrix
* Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.
The “Digital World” report covers a broad array of topics illustrating the key global trends that underlie how the Internet is used around the world today. Some of the key findings include:
* The U.S. now accounts for 21 percent of Internet users worldwide. While growth in the number of Internet users in the U.S. has slowed, several Asian and Eastern European countries continue to add new users at a rapid rate.
* Google is the dominant search brand in most countries, including most of Europe and Latin America, with a few significant exceptions – countries where Chinese, Korean, and Russian languages dominate.
* Chinese language search engine Baidu currently ranks #3 in worldwide search market share, behind Google and Yahoo!
* The number of worldwide visitors to social networking sites has grown 34 percent in the past year to 530 million, representing approximately 2 out of every 3 Internet users. MySpace and Facebook are in a tight battle for the global leadership position, each attracting more than 100 million visitors per month.
* Online video has become the dominant online entertainment format, led by the global popularity of YouTube with more than 250 million visitors in January.
* The Internet has become an important source of news for most Web users. The top 10 global news brands show great diversity between country of origin, including the U.S., U.K., China and South Korea.
The comScore “Digital World” report is priced at $4,999 for the first copy and $999 for each additional copy shipped to the same address, and can be purchased online at www.comscore.com/reports.
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