Indian Social Networking Audience Soars 43 Percent in Past Year
Mumbai, India, August 25, 2010 – Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a report on traffic to Social Networking sites in India, revealing that Facebook.com grabbed the number one ranking in the category for the first time in July with 20.9 million visitors, up 179 percent versus year ago.
“The social networking phenomenon continues to gain steam worldwide, and India represents one of the fastest growing markets at the moment,” said Will Hodgman, Comscore executive vice president for the Asia-Pacific region. “Though Facebook has tripled its audience in the past year to pace the growth for the category, several other social networking sites have posted their own sizeable gains.”
More than 33 million Internet users age 15 and older in India visited social networking sites in July, representing 84 percent of the total Internet audience. India now ranks as the seventh largest market worldwide for social networking, after the U.S., China, Germany, Russian Federation, Brazil and the U.K. The total Indian social networking audience grew 43 percent in the past year, more than tripling the rate of growth of the total Internet audience in India.
Growth of Top 10 Social Networking Markets WorldwideJuly 2010 vs. July 2009Total Worldwide – Age 15+, Home & Work Locations*Source: Comscore MMX
Social Networking Unique Visitors (000)
Jul-2009
Jul-2010
% Change
Worldwide
770,092
945,040
23%
United States
131,088
174,429
33%
China
N/A
97,151
Germany
25,743
37,938
47%
Russian Federation
20,245
35,306
74%
Brazil
23,966
35,221
United Kingdom
30,587
35,153
15%
India
23,255
33,158
43%
France
25,121
32,744
30%
Japan
23,691
31,957
35%
South Korea
15,910
24,962
57%
*Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.
Facebook Takes Top Spot among Social Networking Sites in India
Facebook.com posted an especially strong month in July, growing 12 percent versus June, to capture the top spot in the category with 20.9 million visitors. Orkut ranked second with 19.9 million visitors (up 16 percent vs. year ago), followed by BharatStudent.com with 4.4 million visitors (up 3 percent). Twitter.com had the highest rate of growth among the top five social networking sites, increasing 239 percent to 3.3 million visitors. Yahoo! owned two of the top ten social networking sites: Yahoo! Pulse (3.5 million visitors) and Yahoo! Buzz (1.8 million visitors).
Top Social Networking Sites in IndiaJuly 2010 vs. July 2009Total India – Age 15+, Home & Work Locations*Source: Comscore MMX
Total Unique Visitors (000)
Total Internet : Total Audience
35,028
39,562
13
Social Networking
43
Facebook.com
7,472
20,873
179
Orkut
17,069
19,871
16
Bharatstudent.com
4,292
4,432
3
Yahoo! Pulse
3,507
Twitter.com
984
3,341
239
LinkedIn.com
3,267
Zedge.net
1,767
3,206
81
Ibibo.com
1,562
2,960
89
Yahoo! Buzz
542
1,807
233
Shtyle.fm
407
1,550
281
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.
Contact:Sarah RadwanickDirector, Regional Product MarketingComscore, Inc. +44 (0) 20 7099 1784worldpress@comscore.com