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Facebook the Fastest-Growing Site in UK, Google the Most Visited

Google was the most visited property in August in the UK, with 28.3 million unique visitors age 15 or older, reaching 89% of the total UK Internet audience, according to comScore’s World Metrix service, which found that Facebook.com was the fastest-growing online property in the UK.

Among comScore’s other findings:

• Microsoft Sites, which attracted 26.8 million unique visitors, reached 83% of the total UK internet audience in August.
• Yahoo grew 1.3% in August to challenge eBay for its position as the third most-visited property from within the UK. eBay attracted an audience of 21.6 million unique visitors, compared with Yahoo’d 21.0 million.

• Meanwhile, online-shopping site Amazon proved to be the fastest growing of the Top 10 UK properties, increasing total traffic 6.3% to attract 13.3 million unique visitors - a reach of 42%.

The top-gaining sites in August:

• Facebook.com was the fastest-growing property in the UK, increasing the number of its unique visitors 18.3% in August and reaching a total of just under 9 million.
• Facebook has experienced a dramatic 2,167% growth within the UK since September 2006, when it opened up registration to the general public.
• During the same period, traffic to the site has increased strongly across Europe, where it has grown by 2,446% to reach 13.2 million unique visitors.

• British Sky Broadcasting experienced a 10% growth in traffic, reaching 7.4 million unique visitors. This increase was sparked by interest in skysports.com, thanks to the onset of the new football/soccer season.
• Premiumtv.co.uk also benefited from the start of the season. The company, which manages the digital rights of football in the UK and produces multi-platform club specific content, enjoyed a 17.1% growth to reach 3.1 million unique visitors.  
• Shopping-comparison site Shopzilla.com grew 10.2%, to 3.4 million unique visitors; travel price-comparison specialist Priceline.com increased 8.6%, to 3.1 million.