The Ten Most Heavily Used Web Brands Account for 45 Percent of Total UK Internet Time

LONDON -

- Consequently, the Other 7,625 Brands Currently Tracked by Nielsen Online are Fighting for the Remaining 55 Percent of Time Britons Spend Online

- Facebook is the Most Heavily Used Web Brand, Accounting for 13 Percent of all UK Internet Time - or one in Every Eight Minutes

- Communication and Entertainment are Central Themes Amongst Most Heavily Used Web Brands

LONDON, September 15 /PRNewswire/ –

Despite the increasing proliferation of new websites and services, Nielsen Online, a service of the Nielsen Company, today reveals the staggering share of time accounted for by the ten most heavily used web brands. Moreover, this share is increasing. In April 2009, the ten web brands on which Britons spent the most time accounted for 45 percent of all UK Internet time - compared to less than 42 percent in April 2008 (see Chart 1).

“The Internet is a complex and varied ecosystem and I think most people would be surprised by just how much time is accounted for by a relatively few brands who, in turn, are increasing their share of the pie.” says Alex Burmaster, Communications Director, EMEA, Nielsen Online.

“Between just the two of them, the two most heavily used web brands - Facebook and MSN/Windows Live - account for almost 11 billion of the 48 billion minutes that Britons spend online. That’s over one in every five minutes and highlights just how competitive the online space is for both publishers and advertisers when it comes to capturing consumer attention.”

In April 2009, the average Briton spent 22 hours 20 minutes online or using Internet-related applications. This represents a 34 percent increase on a year ago when the figure was 16 hours 36 minutes. Facebook is one of the major factors in the increasing time people are spending online - the site recording 3.8 billion more minutes in April 2009 than April 2008 (see Chart 2).

Chart 1: Most heavily-used web brands - share of UK Internet-related time Rank Brand Share of Share of Change Time April Time in Share 2009 April of Time 2008 1 Facebook 12.7% 7.2% +5.6% 2 MSN/Windows Live 9.2% 10.1% -0.9% 3 Google 5.3% 4.8% +0.4% 4 eBay 4.1% 5.0% -0.9% 5 Yahoo! 3.5% 3.4% +0.1% 6 AOL Media Network 3.0% 3.2% -0.2% 7 BBC 2.3% 2.3% +0.1% 8 YouTube 1.9% 1.9% -0.1% 9 Microsoft 1.5% 2.0% -0.5% 10 Apple 1.5% 1.7% -0.2% Total 45.1% 41.6% -

From Apr. ‘08 to Apr. ‘09 the share of UK time accounted for by Facebook increased by 5.6 percentage points - from 7.2 percent to 12.7 percent.

Chart 2: Most heavily-used web brands - total UK Internet-related time Rank Brand Total UK Minutes Total UK Change in (millions) April Minutes Total UK 2009 (millions) Minutes April 2008 (millions) 1 Facebook 6,160 2,385 +3,776 2 MSN/Windows 4,463 3,369 +1,094 Live 3 Google 2,560 1,610 +950 4 eBay 1,978 1,672 +306 5 Yahoo! 1,719 1,133 +586 6 AOL Media 1,462 1,060 +402 Network 7 BBC 1,129 759 +370 8 YouTube 898 648 +249 9 Microsoft 733 660 +73 10 Apple 719 554 +165

From Apr. ‘08 to Apr. ‘09 the amount of UK time spent on Facebook increased by 3.8 billion minutes - from 2.4 to 6.2 billion.

Communication and entertainment are the two central themes amongst the most heavily used web brands. Alongside Facebook, communication accounts for MSN/Windows Live whose time is driven by its Messenger and Hotmail services whilst Yahoo! and AOL score heavily on time due to their email offerings. Entertainment is accounted for by video publisher YouTube and the technology companies Microsoft and Apple whose media player offerings - Windows Media Player and iTunes, respectively - are the reason they generate such high time figures.

Burmaster concludes, “The major players have had a pretty good year in terms of the increasing amount of time people spend on their websites and applications. This bodes well for the online industry as it attempts to attract the big brand advertisers by providing a more meaningful platform to engage consumers, particularly through the vehicles of entertainment and communication.”

EDITOR’S NOTES - Please source all information to Nielsen Online

Distributed for ad:tech London 2009 by PR Newswire

About Nielsen Online

Nielsen Online, a service of The Nielsen Company, delivers comprehensive, independent measurement and analysis of online audiences, mobile, advertising, video, consumer-generated media, word of mouth, commerce and consumer behaviour. With high quality, technology-driven products and services, Nielsen Online enables clients to make informed business decisions regarding their Internet, digital and marketing strategies. For more information, please visit www.nielsen-online.com. Also, visit our blog at www.nielsen-online.com/blog.

About The Nielsen Company

The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek). The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA. For more information, please visit, www.nielsen.com

Contact: Alex Burmaster: +44-20-7014-0597 alexander.burmaster@nielsen.com

LONDON, September 15 /PRNewswire/ –

Source: Nielsen Online

Contact: Alex Burmaster: +44-20-7014-0597 alexander.burmaster at nielsen.com