Bill Hartzer

comScore Launches Widget Metrix Service to Track Widget Usage

comscore

According to comScore, photo-related widgets dominate the top 10, and slide widget usages ranks number one–with a reach of 117 million people worldwide. Because of this comScore, the company that tracks internet usage world wide and “measures the digital world”, has launched comScore Widget Metrix, a service to track the usage of widgets across the Internet.

comScore tracks “Web Widgets”, the data files that are embedded into a web site’s back-end html code. Usually, Web Widgets are displayed in the sidebar on a web site and are used by the web site’s owner to “personalize” their site a bit more…by sharing customized web content to certain visitors. They’re also used to share photos or even the site owner’s music recommendations. Web Widgets are very often seen on blogs, social networking web sites, and other “personal” type sites.

comScore recently analyzed the top ten Web Widgets used worldwide and revealed that photo-related widgets are most often used.

According to comScore, the most popular widget provider was slide, with a whopping overall reach of more than 117 million unique viewers–or 13.8 percent of the total worldwide audience.

comScore also reported that the other top photo-related Web Widgets included RockYou (82 million viewers), PictureTrail (31 million viewers), and Photobucket (28 million viewers).

comScore also notes that Facebook’s recent opening of their doors to third-party Web Widget developers most likely will have “a significant impact” on the usage of Web Widgets; they also noted that Facebook’s decision to open their API will “likely have a significant impact in shaping the widget landscape over the coming months.”

  Top Web Widgets Worldwide
  April 2007
  Source: comScore Widget Metrix

                                            Percent of
                      Unique Viewers     Worldwide Online
  Widget                  (000)             Audience

  All Widgets            177,777              21.0%
  Slide                  117,072              13.8%
  RockYou                 82,045               9.7%
  PictureTrail            30,647               3.6%
  Photobucket             28,189               3.3%
  BunnyHeroLabs           24,984               3.0%
  BlingyBlob              21,614               2.6%
  Poqbum                  18,697               2.2%
  Brightcove              16,866               2.0%
  Layoutstar              15,348               1.8%
  Musicplaylist.us        15,089               1.8%

Another interesting fact to note is that the Web Widget penetration is the highest in North America according to comScore.

As more and more web sites across employ Web widgets, the worldwide penetration will continue to grow. In April 2007, comScore reported that Web Widget penetration was the highest in North America. They say that 40.3 percent of web users visited a site that contained a Web Widget, followed by Western Europe at 24.3 percent and Latin America at 17.5 percent.

  Web Widget Internet Audience Penetration by Worldwide Region
  April 2007
  Source: comScore Widget Metrix

                      Unique Viewers   Widget Penetration*
  Region                 (000)             by Region

  Worldwide              177,777              21.0%
  North America           81,011              40.3%
  Western Europe          43,792              24.3%
  Asia Pacific            33,514              10.9%
  Latin America           10,074              17.5%
  Middle East-Africa       4,805              12.6%
  Eastern Europe           4,581               7.6%

* Penetration = Number of unique widget viewers /number of total Internet users for that region

Web Widgets are defined as being “embedded flash (.swf) objects”. comScore expects to change and adapt its tracking service to include other file types as needs change.

For more information about the comScore Widget Metrix, go here.

Related posts:

  1. comScore Publishes Latin American Internet Usage Data If you're a marketer, or an online marketer, then you had better take a look at the Latin American market. According to comScore, the...
  2. comScore Unveils comScore Marketer Interactive Search Intelligence Service comScore has unveiled a new service for marketers called "comScore Marketer" that gives you a comprehensive set of online tools that allows you to...
  3. April 2007 Internet Traffic Report as Reported by comScore It's no surprise (to me) that Google continues to be the most popular web site in the United Kingdom. comScore is also reporting today that...
  4. comScore Releases USA Search Engine Rankings for May 2007 comScore, a company that "measures the digital world" has released their monthly qSearch analysis of the internet activity across the major search engines. comScore...
  5. comScore Releases Top Fifty Internet Rankings for May 2007 comScore Media Metrix has released their list of the top 50 web rankings for May, 2007. This is an analysis of the top USA consumer-related...

Are you looking for marketing services such as social media optimization, search engine marketing, pay per click program management or consulting, or search engine optimization services? Feel free to contact me.

Bill Hartzer is the head search engine marketing, social media marketing, and website marketing expert at Vizion Interactive, Dallas / Fort Worth Texas based interactive marketing firm that offers search engine optimization, pay per click, and other online marketing services. Do you need online marketing services? Let's talk!
Subscribe to RSS   - Get My Updates by Email.
    PubCon Speaker
$100 In Free Links From Text Link Ads!     SEOmoz.org - Learn From SEO Experts. Become an Expert.
    Review Me

Activity

One comment, leave your comment or trackback.
  1. June 13th 2007

Leave a Reply


Search

The archives run deep. Feel free to search older content using topic keywords.

Google


Alternatively, you can use this form:

Browse by Category