Google Remains Most Visited UK Web Property
In May, Google maintained its place as the most-visited web property in the UK with nearly 28 million visitors, reaching 89% of UK web users age 15 and older, according to a new report from comScore.
Microsoft was the second placed property with 27.4 million visitors and a reach of 87%.
comScore says that Facebook continued its meteoric rise, up 30% from April to 4.8 million visitors, its third consecutive month of gains of 30% or more.
Facebook has increased its visitor base by 2,123% from May 2006, when it garnered only 216,000 unique visitors.
Recent research conducted by Q Research for MediaGuardian.co.uk found that a third of British teenagers have at least four social networking profiles on sites such as MySpace, Bebo and Facebook (see Social Networking Sites Appeal To 90% Of British Teens).
The comScore figures also show that Channel 4 surged in popularity (up 31% to 4.4 million visitors) driven by the start of a new series of Big Brother.
The Weather Channel was the UK’s fastest growing property, up 36% to 2.4 million UK visitors.
Guardian Media Group’s strong uptick of 14% to 3.7 million visitors was likely driven by its recent site redesign as well as the news of Tony Blair’s departure from office.
Of the top 20 sites, BSkyB and Bebo experienced the strongest growth from April to May, with the number of unique visitors increasing by over 17% and 13%, respectively.
| Top 20 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in UK Unique Visitors*, May 2007 v April 2007, Total UK Visitors, Age 15+ – Home and Work Locations** | |||
| April 2007 (000) | May 2007 (000) | Percentage Change | |
| Total UK Internet Audience, Age 15+ | 31,150 | 31,514 | 1% |
| Weather Channel, The | 1,760 | 2,395 | 36% |
| Channel4 | 3,380 | 4,417 | 31% |
| FACEBOOK.COM | 3,694 | 4,810 | 30% |
| Ciao Sites | 2,414 | 3,047 | 26% |
| Happygroup | 3,278 | 4,038 | 23% |
| Hearst Digital Network UK | 2,004 | 2,423 | 21% |
| Priceline.com Incorporated | 2,557 | 3,001 | 17% |
| Arcadia Group Limited | 2,268 | 2,657 | 17% |
| British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) | 6,655 | 7,786 | 17% |
| Karstadt-Quelle | 3,795 | 4,395 | 16% |
| First Choice Holidays PLC | 2,414 | 2,794 | 16% |
| Oversee.net Network | 3,043 | 3,511 | 15% |
| EasyGroup | 3,089 | 3,558 | 15% |
| Trinity Mirror Group | 3,761 | 4,330 | 15% |
| Marks&Spencer | 2,071 | 2,383 | 15% |
| Deutsche Telekom | 2,213 | 2,531 | 14% |
| Guardian Media Group | 3,249 | 3,711 | 14% |
| Play.com Sites | 3,608 | 4,087 | 13% |
| TUI Group | 3,786 | 4,280 | 13% |
| BEBO.COM | 8,302 | 9,383 | 13% |
| *Ranking baed on top 100 UK properties in May 2007 | |||
| **Excludes traffic from public computers such as internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs | |||
| Source: comScore World Metrix | |||
comScore: www.comscore.com