IT Facts

Leading US search engines in April 2008

NB — Sat, 17 May 2008 14:14:19 +0000

Rank	Search Engine	Volume
1.	www.google.com	67.90%
2.	search.yahoo.com	20.28%
3.	search.msn.com	4.52%
4.	www.ask.com	4.17%
Source: Hitwise

80% of Internet users to have avatars by 2011

AM — Fri, 16 May 2008 22:55:45 +0000

Gartner Media estimates that by 2011, 80% of Internet users worldwide will have an avatar, making animated online personas as common as screen names.

Most popular US URLs in April 2008

NB — Fri, 16 May 2008 20:34:54 +0000

Rank	Website	Market Share
1.	www.google.com	5.67%
2.	mail.yahoo.com	5.13%
3.	www.myspace.com	4.65%
4.	www.yahoo.com	3.9%
5.	mail.live.com	2.36%
6.	www.ebay.com	1.81%
7.	search.yahoo.com	1.64%
8.	www.msn.com	1.25%
9.	www.facebook.com	0.93%
10.	www.youtube.com	0.85%
11.	www.gmail.com	0.58%
12.	images.google.com	0.54%
13.	www.wikipedia.org	0.49%
14.	search.msn.com	0.44%
15.	mail.aol.com	0.4%
16.	www.pogo.com	0.38%
17.	my.yahoo.com	0.37%
18.	www.ebaymotors.com	0.35%
19.	address.yahoo.com	0.35%
20.	www.aol.com	0.35%
Source: Hitwise

2007 US ad revenues up 26%

AM — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:12:33 +0000

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) announced that the 2007 Internet Advertising Revenue Report shows Internet advertising revenues in the US continued their upward climb. For the full year 2007, revenues totaled $21.2 bln, exceeding 2006 performance by 26%, itself the former record year. Q4 2007 Internet advertising revenues hit $5.9 bln, representing historic revenues for a single quarter and a 24% increase over the same period in 2006. This is the fourth consecutive year and 13th consecutive Q of record results.

eCPMs for large Web sites down 52% in April 2008

AM — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:48:05 +0000

eCPMs for large Web sites (more than 100 mln page views per month) dropped dramatically by 52% from 38 cents in March 2008 to 18 cents in April 2008. Medium Web sites (1 mln to 100 mln page views per month) were nearly flat, with monetization dropping from 34 cents in March 2008 to 33 cents in April 2008. Small Web sites managed to improve their monetization, increasing from $1.18 in March 2008 to $1.29 in April 2008, Pubmatic says.

Video game hardware and software sales up 47% in April 2008

AM — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:46:07 +0000

Americans spent $1.23 bln on video games, hardware and accessories in April 2008, up 47% from April 2007. Total hardware sales grew 26% to $426.2 mln, with the Wii selling 714,200 units, followed by the handheld Nintendo DS at 414,800. Software sales surged to $654.7 mln from $389.4 mln in April 2007. Grand Theft Auto IV was April’s best-selling game. In the US, GTA IV sold about 2.9 mln units in April 2008 for the Xbox 360 and the PS3. Of this, nearly 1.9 mln copies went to the Xbox, NPD says.

US cable companies added 1.19 mln new broadband subscribers in Q1 2008

AM — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:41:57 +0000

Largest cable companies in the US added 1.19 mln broadband subscribers in Q1 2008, according to Leichtman Research Group. Phone companies added 1.01 mln DSL customers in Q1 2008. Since Q3 2004, phone companies had been adding subscribers faster than cable, closing in on cable’s lead in total subscribers. But that lead is now widening, with cable companies having a total of 34.7 mln subscribers compared with 29.5 mln at the phone companies.

Inkjet and laser multifunction peripherals enjoyed a healthy growth of 11% and 13% respectively in Q4 2007 in China

NB — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:49:58 +0000

Both the inkjet and laser multifunction peripherals enjoyed a healthy growth of 11% and 13% respectively in Q4 2007 in China, according to IDC. The demand from the public, education and financial sectors increased the sales of the SDM (Serial Dot Matrix) printer, resulting in a 16% increase in Q4 2007. IDC expects demand for SDM printers to continue through 2008.

Top 10 automotive search terms

NB — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:16:14 +0000

Rank	Search Term	Volume
1.	toyota	2.22%
2.	honda	2.00%
3.	nissan	1.33%
4.	ford	1.09%
5.	honda motorcycles	1.00%
6.	harley davidson	0.92%
7.	dodge	0.88%
8.	suzuki	0.80%
9.	hyundai	0.77%
10.	yamaha motorcycles	0.71%
Source: Hitwise

Top Web sites in Canada in March 2008

NB — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:44:52 +0000

Mar-08 Rank	Feb-08 Rank	Property	Audience, 000
N/A	N/A	Total Internet : Total Audience	23,879
1	1	Google Sites	22,436
2	2	Microsoft Sites	22,341
3	3	Yahoo! Sites	16,215
4	4	Facebook.com	15,513
5	5	eBay	13,821
6	6	Wikipedia Sites	11,222
7	7	AOL LLC	10,123
8	8	Yellow Pages Group	9,794
9	9	Amazon Sites	8,715
10	11	Canoe Network	8,391
11	10	Apple Inc.	8,285
12	14	Fox Interactive Media	7,769
13	13	The Weather Network Meteomedia	7,717
14	12	CTVglobemedia	7,655
15	15	Ask Network	7,264
16	17	CNET Networks	7,197
17	16	New York Times Digital	7,056
18	18	Viacom Digital	6,327
19	19	CBC-Radio Canada Sites	5,647
20	20	Adobe Sites	5,643
21	21	Time Warner - Excluding AOL	5,339
22	22	Gorilla Nation	5,221
23	24	Canwest Digital	4,840
24	23	WhitePages	4,731
25	26	TD Bank Financial Group	4,487
Source: comScore

Average US time spent in April 2008

NB — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:19:05 +0000

Rank	Name	Domain	Apr 2008	Apr 2007	Growth, YTY
1	Myspace	www.myspace.com	29m54s	30m40s	-3%
2	Facebook	www.facebook.com	20m52s	13m19s	57%
3	myYearbook	www.myyearbook.com	32m54s	21m46s	51%
4	Bebo	www.bebo.com	30m01s	30m52s	-3%
5	Black Planet	www.blackplanet.com	24m39s	22m43s	9%
Source: Hitwise

49% of consumers listen to radio for new music

NB — Mon, 12 May 2008 21:56:24 +0000

In 2008, radio is mentioned as the medium “you turn to first to learn about new music” by about half of consumers (49%), with internet at 25%, according to Edison Media Research. In 2002, radio was mentioned by nearly two-thirds of consumers (63%) and only 9% mentioned internet.

18% of US consumers have listened to an audio podcast

NB — Sat, 10 May 2008 21:58:25 +0000

18% of consumers have ever listened to an audio podcast; up from 13% in 2007. 9% have listened to an audio podcast in the past month (an estimated 23 mln) , according to Edison Media Research. For the third straight year, awareness of XM and Sirius hovers around 60%. 16% nonsubscribers are very/somewhat likely to sign up for satellite radio in next year.

72% of teens usually write longhand

NB — Sat, 10 May 2008 09:12:08 +0000

72% of teens who write for personal reasons say they usually write longhand, similar to the 65% of teens who usually write by hand for school, according to Pew Internet Project. However, teens are much more likely to write only by hand when doing non-school writing. 32% of teens never use a computer at all when writing for their own personal enjoyment; by contrast, just 9% do their school writing by hand only. Whites and older teens are again the most prolific computer users when it comes to nonschool writing.

US weekly online radio audience increased in 2007 to 33 mln

NB — Fri, 09 May 2008 21:57:29 +0000

The weekly online radio audience increased in the past year to an estimated 33 mln. 13% of the US population age 12 and older have listened to online radio in the past week; up from 11% (approximately 29 mln) in 2007, according to Edison Media Research. On a weekly basis, online radio reaches more than one in seven 25-54-year olds (15%). AM/FM radio continues to have a big impact on people’s lives. 21% of consumers said radio is the audio platform/device that has the biggest impact on people’s lives, second only to mobile phones (33%).

Sectors with highest concentration of UK broadband visitors

NB — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:03:24 +0000

Rank	Sector	% of UK Visitors on >2Mb speed
1	Automotive Parts & Accessories	38%
2	Multi-category Automotive	38%
3	Car manufacturers	37%
4	Ticketing/Theatre/Events	37%
5	Targeted Portals/Communities	37%
6	Computer/Consumer Electronics News	37%
7	Credit Cards	37%
8	Weather	37%
9	Train/Bus/Care Hire	36%
10	Arts/Graphics	36%
Source: Nielsen

71% of teens currently have a cell phone and computer at home

NB — Thu, 08 May 2008 20:37:47 +0000

	Cell phone	Desktop or laptop computer
All Teens	71%	59%
Gender
Girls	75	64
Boys	66	55
Age
12-14	61	54
15-17	81	65
Race/Ethnicity
White	72	63
Black	65	49
Hispanic	71	53
Annual Household Income
Less than $50,000	65	62
$50,000+	75	60
Source: Pew Internet Project

Top 5 mobile phone vendors in Q1 2008

NB — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:42:11 +0000

Vendor	Q1 2008 Shipments	Q1 2008 Market Share	Q1 2007 Shipments	Q1 2007 Market Share	YTY Growth
Nokia	115.5	39.6%	91.1	35.7%	26.8%
Samsung	46.3	15.9%	34.8	13.6%	33.0%
Motorola	27.4	9.4%	45.4	17.8%	-39.7%
LG Electronics	24.4	8.4%	15.8	6.2%	54.4%
Sony Ericsson	22.3	7.6%	21.8	8.5%	2.3%
Others	55.7	19.1%	46.1	18.1%	20.8%
Total	291.6	100.0%	255.0	100.0%	14.3%
Source: IDC

The number of social network users in Latin American countries grew 103% in January 2008

NB — Thu, 08 May 2008 12:05:30 +0000

The number of social network users in five major Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico) more than doubled from January 2007 to to January 2008 - it was up 103% - according to an Analytics 2.0. During the same period, the number of US Hispanic and Puerto Rican social-network users increased 48%.

In February 2008 Brit used broadband for 19 hours 40 minutes

NB — Wed, 07 May 2008 22:01:47 +0000

52% of Britons online are on a connection speed between 512Kb and 2Mb. 33% are on a connection speed between 2Mb and 8Mb, according to Nielsen. The faster the connection speed, the more time people spend online - those on the fastest speed (over 8Mb) averaged 22% more time online than those on the lowest (?128Kb). In February 2008, Britons using dial-up averaged 16 hours 7 minutes online, whereas those on Super Fast broadband averaged 19 hours 40 minutes

Russian Internet usage in February 2008

NB — Wed, 07 May 2008 20:30:14 +0000

Measures	Europe	Russian Federation
Average Minutes per Visitor	1,515	1,078
Average Minutes per Usage Day	91	82
Average Pages per Visitor	2,753	2,322
Average Pages per Usage Day	166	177
Average Usage Days per Visitor	17	13
Source: comScore

60% of Internet users in Latin American countries are using social networks

NB — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:06:53 +0000

The number of internet users in the five major countries is approaching 46.3 mln, a 16% increase from the 39.8 mln in January 2007, according to an Analytics 2.0. The number of Puerto Rican and US Hispanic internet users has grown at the same rate, bringing the total to 66 mln. 60% of total internet users in the five major countries of the region are using one of the above-noted social networks, whereas 77% of internet users in Puerto Rico and the US Hispanic market are doing so.

The most popular social network in Latin American countries is Orkut

NB — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:06:28 +0000

The main social networks of the five-country LatAm region, by number of users, according to an Analytics 2 .0: Orkut - 12.9 mln (up 27% from 10.1 million in 2007); Sonico - 7.3 mln (Sonico launched during the second half of 2007); hi5 - 4.2 mln (up 72% from 2.2 mln in January 2007); MySpace - around 3 mln (13 mln users in all markets analyzed); Facebook - 2.2 mln (up 4,152% from the January 2007 count of 52,000).

45% of US adults like sites that use personal information for advertising or content

NB — Tue, 06 May 2008 22:01:09 +0000

By a 55% to 45% majority, US adults indicate that they would be more comfortable with companies’ using information about a person’s online activities to provide customized advertising or content, according to Harris Interactive. Once the privacy/security policies were presented, the percentages of those who are very comfortable increases only slightly to 9%, from 7% according to Harris Interactive. The percentage who are somewhat comfortable given the privacy/security policies increases more significantly, to 46% from 34%. Similarly, the proportion of those who are not at all comfortable declines to 19% from 25%, and of those who are not very comfortable declines to 26% from 34%.

The recruitment sector is the leader of advertising market with 25.7% share

NB — Tue, 06 May 2008 21:55:17 +0000

The recruitment sector continued to lead the market with 25.7% market share, up 0.9 points on the second half of 2006, according to Internet Advertising Bureau. Second was automotive with 11.9%, while Technology (10.4%) overtook Finance (10%) for the first time to take third place. Other areas of growth were retail, which increased 1.7 points, to 5%, as a result of a buoyant ecommerce sector. Consumer goods (including FMCG) increased to 5.3%.Property climbed the ladder to break into the top five with a market share of 7.9%.