Russia Has Most Engaged Social Networking Audience Worldwide

Yandex Reached Nearly 80 Percent of Russian Internet Audience in August 2010

London, U.K., 20th October, 2010 – Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a study of internet usage in Russia based on August 2010 data from the Comscore MMX service. The study revealed that Russians are the heaviest social networkers worldwide in terms of time spent per user and that Yandex is the leading property in the Russian Federation.

Russia #1 Worldwide in Time Spent on Social Networking Sites
In August 2010, 34.5 million Russian internet users (74.5 percent of the online population) visited at least one social networking site. With an average of 9.8 hours per visitor during the month, Russians spent more than double the worldwide average of 4.5 hours per visitors on social networks, ranking it #1 among all countries in social networking engagement. Israel ranked second with an average of 9.2 hours per visitor, followed by Turkey with 7.6 hours.

Vkontakte.ru ranked as the top social networking site in Russia with 27.8 million visitors, followed by Odnoklassniki with 16.7 million visitors. Despite Facebook’s strong leadership position both worldwide and in the majority of individual Internet markets, it ranked just fifth in Russia with 4.5 million visitors. However, its audience has grown 376 percent in the past year, outpacing each of the other top five social networking sites in the market.

Top 10 Countries for Social Networking Ranked by Time Spent per Visitor
August 2010Total Worldwide Audience, Age 15+ - Home and Work Locations*
Source: Comscore MMX

Social Networking

Average Hours per Visitor

Total Unique Visitors (000)

Worldwide

4.5

964,305

Russian Federation

9.8

34,545

Israel

9.2

4,032

Turkey

7.6

20,911

United Kingdom

7.3

35,792

Philippines

6.2

5,176

Canada

5.8

22,087

Indonesia

5.3

7,183

Finland

5.0

2,983

Spain

5.0

18,569

Puerto Rico

4.9

1,078

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

Yandex and DST Lead Ranking of Top Web Properties in Russia
Of the 44 million Web users age 15 and older in Russia in August 2010, 34.9 million accessed the Russian search portal Yandex Sites, ranking it as the top property in the market. Internet holding company DST, which includes, among others, Mail.ru, Odnoklassniki and ICQ, ranked second with an audience of 34.4 million visitors, followed by Google Sites with 30.2 million unique visitors. Russian-based social network Vkontakte ranked fourth with 28 million visitors (63.6 percent reach), while RosBusinessConsulting ranked fifth with 19.3 million visitors (43.9 percent reach).

Top 15 Web Properties Ranked by Unique Visitors (000)
August 2010
Total Russian Audience, Age 15+ - Home & Work Locations*
Source: Comscore MMX

Total Unique Visitors (000)

% Reach

Total Internet: Total Audience

44,027

100.0 %

Yandex Sites

34,926

79.3 %

DST

34,407

78.1 %

Google Sites

30,202

68.6 %

Vkontakte

28,015

63.6 %

RosBusinessConsulting

19,308

43.9 %

Wikimedia Foundation Sites

14,979

34.0 %

Rambler Media

14,272

32.4 %

Microsoft Sites

12,117

27.5 %

SUP

10,261

23.3 %

Ucoz.ru

9,823

22.3 %

Depositfiles.com

9,745

22.1 %

Gazprom Media

9,263

21.0 %

Zaycev.net

8,894

20.2 %

Opera Software

8,792

20.0 %

Letitbit.net

8,535

19.4 %

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

“It is very exciting to watch the developments of the continuously strong-growing Russian internet market, where many Russian-based companies still outnumber global players,” said Mike Read, SVP & managing director, Comscore Europe. “The substantial growth in the Russian social media sector provides a sizeable advertising opportunity and reflects the importance of online connectivity for the Russian population.”

Comscore at Internet Week in Moscow
Mike Read, SVP & managing director, Comscore Europe, will be speaking at Russian Internet Week in Moscow on 21st October 2010 at 11am (Russia Time Zone 2 / MSK). The presentation will be about the state of the internet in Russia from a global and local perspective including an overview of the online video landscape.

About Comscore
Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

Ayaan Mohamud
Comscore, Inc.
+ 44 (0) 203-111-1758
worldpress@comscore.com