Facebook Grows U.S. Audience as Major Players Lose

Jack Marshall | January 12, 2010 | 0 comments

For the third month in a row, Facebook has experienced an increase in both the number of U.S. users visiting its site, and the amount of time those users are spending on the social network, according to data from Nielsen.

By contrast, Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL, and even Google sites all witnessed month-on-month reductions in unique users, and the amount of time those users spent with their properties during the month of November.

Outside of the top five companies, the majority of the remaining 20 also experienced a drop in unique users compared with numbers from October.

Top 25 Parent Companies/Divisions at Home and Work, November 2009 (Excludes Adult Web Properties)
Parent	Unique Audience (000)	Time per Person (hr:min:sec)
Google	155,467	2:24:13
Microsoft	137,198	2:02:11
Yahoo	131,355	3:03:36
Facebook	109,710	6:10:06
AOL LLC	87,022	2:32:32
News Corp. Online	80,336	1:22:34
InterActiveCorp	71,842	0:15:05
Amazon	68,789	0:29:52
eBay	66,776	1:26:18
Apple Computer	62,074	1:18:23
Wikimedia Foundation	59,607	0:17:33
Walt Disney Internet Group	56,576	0:37:36
CBS Corp.	51,826	0:22:34
New York Times Co.	51,230	0:12:14
Turner Network (Time Warner)	46,643	0:31:13
Wal-Mart Stores	46,018	0:20:05
AT&T	39,552	0:17:57
Comcast Corp.	38,645	0:52:47
Glam Media	37,372	0:15:09
General Electric	35,479	0:10:21
The Weather Channel Interactive	34,164	0:19:16
Craigslist	33,730	1:25:37
Target Corp.	33,233	0:10:58
Viacom Digital	33,113	0:46:19
Scripps Networks Interactive	32,175	0:10:07
Notes: 1. The parent level is a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs owned by a single company or division. 2. The Time Warner division excludes Turner Network's audience.
Source: Nielsen Online, 2009

Top 10 Stickiest Brands at Home and Work, November 2009
Brand	Unique Audience (000)	Time per Person (hr:min:sec)
Blizzard Entertainment	2,533	22:36:15
PokerStars.com	1,990	14:06:05
Maple Story	168	13:35:39
Absolute Poker	505	13:25:09
Poker Creations	124	11:07:38
Xobni	255	10:22:42
Big Sea Games	252	9:45:41
Freeonlinemahjonggames.net	88	9:23:37
SpadeClub	64	9:09:40
Thepokerclub.com	45	8:59:29
Notes: 1. The brand level is a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs that has a consistent collection of branded content. 2. * denotes home and work audience duplication projections did not meet minimum sample size standards. Combined home and work audience estimates for these sites may exhibit increased variability month to month as a result.
Source: Nielsen Online, 2009