Social networking tops online activities in India, finds comScore study

Google sites emerged as the top destination in a comScore study that concluded in June this year, reaching roughly 95 percent of the online population, whereas social networking turned out to be the top online activity, taking up 25.2 percent of all online minutes. These figures came out at the end of a comScore study on the top online sites and activities in India using its comScore Media Metrix service. Elaborating further on the numbers, the study pointed that in June 2012, Google sites reached 57.8 million people across the country (age 15 and older) using Internet, either from their home or work computer. Facebook.com, according to the figures put forth by this study, managed 50.9 million visitors (83.4 percent reach), while Yahoo! sites projected a 65.5 percent reach and Microsoft sites registered a 48.1 percent reach.  

Social networking tops online activities in India! (Image credit: Getty Images)

These findings, among  other things are to be presented today via a complimentary live webinar titled The Rise of India’s Digital Consumer and What it Means for the Future. Among the local web properties, the study found that Times Internet Limited reached 33.7 percent of the online population, Network 18 managed a 29.3 percent reach, Rediff.com India Ltd managed a 25.2 percent reach and NIC.in managed a 21.8 percent reach.

Facebook.com, as per the findings of the study, emerged as the property where visitors were most engaged - they spent an average of nearly 4 hours on the site in June. Further, the study found that visitors spent 2.5 hours on Google sites. Narrowing down further, it was found that YouTube accounted for a strong share of time spent. Among local brands, Network 18 emerged as the most engaging property with an average of 31.6 minutes spent by visitors in that month. 

As aforementioned, social networking turned out to be the top online activity, taking up 25.2 percent of all online minutes. The study detailed further that social networking accounted for 25.2 percent of all time spent online in June. This figure, the study added, was up by 0.8 percentage from last year. Entertainment sites took up the second place in this ranking, as they accounted for 10 percent of minutes (up 1.2 percentage from the previous year). Portals, according to the study, accounted for 8.8 percent of total minutes. In a finding that further cemented the growth of online shopping, the study found that the time spent on retail sites rose 0.5 points in the past year.