LONDON, November 24 /PRNewswire/ -- comScore, Inc. , a leader in measuring the digital world, today released the results of a study of the online habits of Portuguese Internet users, based on data from the comScore World Metrix service. More than 3.8 million people age 15 and older accessed the Internet from a home or work location in Portugal in September, viewing an average 1,843 pages and spending an average 1.9 hours online per person during the month.

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Portugal represents a dynamic and growing Internet market in Europe with users continuing to be more active and engaged online, said Mike Read, comScore managing director for Europe and Ibero America. The average Internet user in Portugal is spending more time online engaging in different behaviors such as reading news and articles, search, conducting personal financial transactions and social networking. As these behaviors continue to take hold in the Portuguese market there will be an increasing number of opportunities to leverage the Internet for marketing and advertising purposes.

Google Sites Reaches 94 Percent of Portuguese Internet Audience

A total of 3.8 million people accessed the Internet in Portugal in September 2009, up 4 percent on the previous year. The most popular property was Google Sites with 3.6 million visitors, reaching 93.6 percent of the total online population, followed by Microsoft Sites (3.4 million visitors) and Portugal Telecom (2.4 million visitors).

Social networking site, Hi5.com, ranked as Portugal's fourth most popular online property in September with 2.3 million visitors. Instant messaging services and social networking sites combined to account for more than one third (36.5 percent) of the total time spent online in Portugal, with the heaviest users of social networking sites (top 20 percent of visitors to the site category) spending an average of 13.4 hours on these sites during the month.

Top 15 Online Properties in Portugal* ------------------------------------- Total Portugal - Age 15+, Home Work Locations ----------------------------------------------- September 2009 -------------- Source: comScore World Metrix ----------------------------- Media Sep-2008 Sep-2009 % Change ----- -------- -------- -------- Total Internet : Total Audience 3,665 3,816 4% ---------------------- ----- ----- --- Google Sites 2,959 3,570 21% ------------ ----- ----- --- Microsoft Sites 2,816 3,397 21% --------------- ----- ----- --- Portugal Telecom 2,125 2,398 13% ---------------- ----- ----- --- Hi5.com 1,986 2,329 17% ------- ----- ----- --- Yahoo! Sites 1,066 1,422 33% ------------ ----- ----- --- UOL 971 1,254 29% --- --- ----- --- Grupo Impresa 1,086 1,215 12% ------------- ----- ----- --- Wikimedia Foundation Sites 1,012 1,148 13% -------------------- ----- ----- --- Grupo Brasil Telecom 863 1,119 30% -------------------- --- ----- --- WordPress 860 1,058 23% --------- --- ----- --- OnLine eXchange 625 930 49% --------------- --- --- --- IOL.pt 771 914 19% ------ --- --- --- Terra - Telefonica 655 890 36% ------------------ --- --- --- Clix.pt 756 852 13% ------- --- --- --- CBS Interactive 394 643 63% --------------- --- --- --- *Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

Hi5.com Most Popular Social Networking Site

Slightly less than 3 million people visited a social networking site in September, up 16 percent versus the previous year and representing 78.4 percent of the total Portuguese online population. Hi5.com was the most popular social networking site with 2.3 million visitors, followed by Windows Live Profile (1.2 million visitors), Facebook.com (639,000 visitors) and MySpace Sites (289,000 visitors).

While Hi5.com remained the market leader in Portugal in September, international sites proved to be a growing force in the Portuguese social networking space. Facebook.com grew 463 percent on the previous year to reach 639,000 visitors in September; Badoo was up 3,018 percent to 238,000 visitors, while popular micro-blogging site, Twitter.com grew 842 percent in the past year to 249,000 visitors in September 2009.

Top 10 Social Networking Sites in Portugal* ------------------------------------------- Total Portugal - Age 15+, Home Work Locations ----------------------------------------------- September 2009 -------------- Source: comScore World Metrix ----------------------------- Media Sep-2008 Sep-2009 % Change ----- -------- -------- -------- Total Internet : Total Audience 3,665 3,816 4% ---------------------- ----- ----- --- Social Networking 2,585 2,992 16% ----------------- ----- ----- --- Hi5.com 1,986 2,329 17% ------- ----- ----- --- Windows Live Profile N/A 1,225 N/A -------------------- --- ----- --- Facebook.com 113 639 463% ------------ --- --- --- MySpace Sites 267 289 8% ------------- --- --- --- Orkut 170 256 50% ----- --- --- --- Twitter.com 26 249 842% ----------- --- --- --- Netlog.com 204 244 19% ---------- --- --- --- Badoo.com 8 238 3,018% --------- --- --- ----- Windows Live People N/A 218 N/A ------------------- --- --- --- Deviantart.com 94 156 67% -------------- --- --- --- *Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

Alex Banks to Attend CAEM i-com National Roundtable in Lisbon, Portugal

Alex Banks, comScore's managing director of Latin American markets, will be attending the CAEM i-com National Rountable in Portugal on Thursday 26th November. The event will focus on the future of digital audience measurement in Portugal and comScore will contribute its unique experience gained from measuring Internet audiences in over 40 countries across the globe to this discussion. For more information on this program please visit the following link: http://i-com.org/i-com-national-roundtable-port/.

About comScore

comScore, Inc. is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

SOURCE: comScore, Inc.

CONTACT: Jamie Gavin, comScore, Inc., +44-(0)207-099-1775,worldpress@comscore.com