In April 2009, the ten web brands Britons spent the most time on accounted for 45% of all UK internet time – compared to less than 42% in April 2008.
According to new figures released by Nielsen Online today, the average Briton spent 22 hours 20 minutes online or using internet-related applications in April 2009, representing a year on year increase of 34%, up from 16 hours 36 minutes.
Alex Burmaster, communications director, EMEA, Nielsen Online, said: “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.
“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.”
| Most heavily-used web brands – share of UK Internet-related time | ||||
| Rank | Brand | Share of Time April 2009 | Share of Time April 2008 | Change in Share of Time |
| 1 | 12.70% | 7.20% | 5.60% | |
| 2 | MSN/Windows Live | 9.20% | 10.10% | -0.90% |
| 3 | 5.30% | 4.80% | 0.40% | |
| 4 | eBay | 4.10% | 5.00% | -0.90% |
| 5 | Yahoo! | 3.50% | 3.40% | 0.10% |
| 6 | AOL Media Network | 3.00% | 3.20% | -0.20% |
| 7 | BBC | 2.30% | 2.30% | 0.10% |
| 8 | YouTube | 1.90% | 1.90% | -0.10% |
| 9 | Microsoft | 1.50% | 2.00% | -0.50% |
| 10 | Apple | 1.50% | 1.70% | -0.20% |
| Total | 45.10% | 41.60% | – | |
| From Apr. ’08 to Apr. ’09 the share of UK time accounted for by Facebook increased by 5.6 percentage points – from 7.2% to 12.7%. | ||||
Facebook is one of the major factors in the increasing time people are spending online, said Nielsen. The site recorded 3.8 billion more minutes in April 2009 than April 2008.
| Most heavily-used web brands – total UK Internet-related time | ||||
| Rank | Brand | Total UK Minutes (millions) April 2009 | Total UK Minutes (millions) April 2008 | Change in Total UK Minutes (millions) |
| 1 | 6,160 | 2,385 | 3,776 | |
| 2 | MSN/Windows Live | 4,463 | 3,369 | 1,094 |
| 3 | 2,560 | 1,610 | 950 | |
| 4 | eBay | 1,978 | 1,672 | 306 |
| 5 | Yahoo! | 1,719 | 1,133 | 586 |
| 6 | AOL Media Network | 1,462 | 1,060 | 402 |
| 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, Nielsen found.
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.
