comScore Releases Worldwide Rankings of Top Web Properties

comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, reported the latest worldwide rankings of top Web properties from its World Metrix service. The rankings are based on unique visitors and also "average visits per visitor," using a new suite of "visits" metrics. A "visit" is a frequency measure and indicator of user engagement defined as an individual's set of interactions with a specific Web site. In counting visits, if an individual does not interact with the site for at least a 30-minute period, that visit will be defined as having been concluded and a new visit will be counted when the individual next accesses the site. Included among the new suite of metrics are total visits, average minutes per visit, average visits per visitor, and average visits per usage day.

While each of the "visits" metrics offers a different measure of frequency, "average visits per visitor" is the most illustrative of return visits per individual during the course of a month. Used in concert with the "unique visitors" metric, this measure can help give a more comprehensive view of a site's performance.

As seen below in Table 1, February's worldwide list of sites ranked by average visits per visitor was dominated by Asian sites, which represented the three most engaging sites by this measure: NHN Corporation (also the 47th most-visited site worldwide in February based on unique visitors), TENCENT Inc. (the 21st most-visited site), and Rising.com.cn (the 89th most-visited site).

A comparison of the rankings by average visits per visitor and by unique visitors shows a marked difference between the two. Only five of the Top 10 sites ranked by unique visitors (Google Sites, Microsoft Sites, Yahoo! Sites, Time Warner Network and Fox Interactive Media) appeared in the Top 10 list of sites ranked by average visits per visitor. The remaining sites on the Top 10 list ranked by average visits per visitor appear lower in the ranking based on unique visitors. Specifically, in addition to the aforementioned Asian sites, Facebook.com was the sixth-most engaging site worldwide (as measured by Average Visits per Visitor), but only the 73rd most-visited site in February, and the Web-hosting company United-Internet Sites was the eighth most-engaging property, but only the 79th most-visited site.