Monthly US Web Usage Declines in February

March 18, 2010

Average US month-over-month internet usage declined in every category during February 2010, with most web brands and parent companies losing traffic, according to The Nielsen Company.

Americans Do Less with Web
Americans quite simply did less with the internet last month than they did in January 2010. The average sessions/visits per person declined 7.3%, from 55 to 51. Domains visited per person dropped 2.2%, from 90 to 88. Web pages per person declined 7.9%, from 2,621 to 2,415. PC time per person decreased 7.8%, from 58 hours, 52 minutes and five seconds to 54 hours, 16 minutes and 37 seconds. The average duration of a web page viewed shrank 0.4%, from 56 seconds to 55 seconds. And the total number of active internet users fell 0.9%, from about 203.1 million to about 201.2 million.

nielsen-average-us-internet-usage-feb-10-mar-2010.jpg

Most Top Parent Companies Lose Time, All Lose Audience
Of the top 10 internet parent companies in February 2010, six experienced a reduction in unique audience and all 10 experienced a reduction in average time per person.

nielsen-top-10-parent-companies-feb-10-mar-2010.jpg

Google led all parent companies with a unique audience of about 163 million, which dropped 0.3% from January 2010. Average time spent per person on Google was one hour, 47 minutes and 44 seconds, a 14% monthly decrease.

Microsoft came in second with a unique audience of about 143.6 million, down 0.2% from January 2010. Average time spent per person was one hour, 49 minutes and 15 seconds, a 7.4% monthly decline.

Yahoo took third place with a unique audience of about 136.1 million, a 2% monthly drop. Average time spent per person was two hours, 17 minutes and 35 seconds, a 7.4% monthly decline.

Facebook took fourth place with a unique audience of about 118.8 million, a 2.1% improvement from the previous month. Facebook had a far larger average time spent per person, six hours, 27 minutes and 43 seconds, although on a monthly basis it declined 8.1%.

Percentage-wise, Wikimedia Foundation had the largest increase in unique audience (3.4%), while Amazon had the biggest decrease (4.9%). NewsCorp. Online had the biggest decrease in average time spent per person (24%).

Top Web Brands Have Similar Results to Parent Companies
Much like the monthly results for the top 10 parent companies, seven of the top 10 web brands had their unique audience decline and all had their average time spent per person decline. Google led all web brands with a unique audience of about 153.8 million spending an average of one hour, 11 minutes and 42 seconds per person. Unique audience grew 0.5% for the month while average time spent per person dropped 17%.

nielsen-top-10-web-brands-feb-10-mar-2010.jpg

Yahoo was the number two web brand with a unique audience of about 134.1 million which spent an average of two hours, 18 minutes and 35 seconds per person. Unique audience declined 2.4% for the month and average time spent per person dropped 7%.

Facebook narrowly beat out MSN/Windows Live/Bing as the number three web brand for February 2010, with a unique audience of about 118.8 million who spent a leading average of six hours, 27 minutes and 43 seconds per person. Unique audience grew 2.1% for the month while average time spent per person dropped 8.1%.

MSN/Windows Live/Bing slightly trailed Facebook with a unique audience of about 118.1 million who spent an average of one hour, 40 minutes and 11 seconds. Unique audience grew 1.1% and average time spent per person shrank 9.1%.

Percentagewise, Wikipedia had the biggest monthly growth in unique audience (3.2%) and Fox Interactive Media had the largest monthly decline (6.7%). Fox Interactive Media also had the steepest drop in average time spent per person (23%).

January 2010 was More Active Online Month
US internet users spent less time online in January 2010 than December 2009, but did more with the time they spent, according to previous data from Nielsen.

The total number of active US internet users rose 3.8% between December 2009 and January 2010, from 195.7 million to 203.1 million. Those users increased their sessions per person 7.8%, from 51 to 55, and also visited 8.4% more domains, 90 compared to 83. The number of web pages visited per person rose 0.3%, from 2,614 to 2,621.

However, US internet users were doing more in less time. Monthly PC time per person dropped 8.2%, from 64 hours, nine minutes and 12 seconds to 58 hours, 52 minutes and five seconds. Average duration of a web page dropped 0.2%, but was still measured at 56 seconds after rounding.

Chart-Library-Ad-1

Explore More Articles.

Which Skills Are Important in RevOps?

Which Skills Are Important in RevOps?

9 in 10 RevOps professionals view data analysis skills as being important, a high percentage also don’t believe they need this skill for their job.

Marketing Charts Logo

Stay on the cutting edge of marketing.

Sign up for our free newsletter.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This