Microsoft Is the Most Engaging Global Property, comScore Reports

A study by comScore Inc. found that Microsoft’s sites captured nearly 15 percent of time spent online worldwide in September, followed by Google sites and Yahoo! sites. Facebook.com is the fourth most engaging destination, followed by China’s Tencent Inc on fifth. Facebook’s visitors spent 1.4 billion hours on the site in September, up 193 percent from the previous year.

comScore reports in September 27 billion hours spent on the Internet globally by a record online population of 1.2 billion Internet users age 15 and older, with Microsoft sites leading the pack, and Microsoft’s Windows Live Messenger representing nearly 70 percent of time spent on the property during the month.

Google follows with 9.3 percent of total minutes (2.5 billion hours), with YouTube accounting for nearly half of total time spent (1.2 billion hours) at the property.

Yahoo! ranked third at 1.7 billion hours, followed by Facebook.com at 1.4 billion hours.

These metrics are indicative of user behavior, and could serve to help business owners develop better marketing strategies to reach the audiences where they actually spend time online. Facebook’s growth is the surprise of the list, considering the backlash this network received during the year. The regional analysis of these global properties reveals which markets are responsible for their success.

“The Internet continues to be a dynamic and growing environment around the world with the global online population climbing more than 20 percent in the last year,” said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix. “With the U.S. economy only now emerging from a recession, many multinational corporations have shifted the focus of their growth strategies towards developing markets and the Internet represents an important aspect of those strategies. Understanding the global Internet landscape is the first step towards executing effective marketing strategies in these growing markets.”