RESTON, Virginia, March 18 /PRNewswire/ --

- U.S. Currently Accounts for 21 Percent of Worldwide Internet Users, Down from 66 Percent in 1996

comScore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released several key findings from its "Digital World: State of the Internet" report. The study highlights the changing dynamics of worldwide Internet usage, as it has grown from a U.S.-centric medium to its currently global landscape.

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In January 2008, the Asia Pacific region had more than 300 million Internet users at least 15 years of age accessing the Internet from work and home computers. This represents an increase of 14 percent versus year ago and makes Asia Pacific the largest of the five worldwide regions. Latin America and Middle East-Africa have also experienced above average audience growth during the past year, while North America and Europe have grown at more modest rates.

Worldwide Internet Audience (000) January 2008 vs. January 2007 Total Worldwide, Age 15+ - Home and Work Locations(i) Source: comScore World Metrix Percent Region Jan-07 Jan-08 Change Worldwide 746,934 824,435 10.4% Asia Pacific 271,192 308,817 13.9% Europe 218,063 232,866 6.8% North America 173,839 183,823 5.7% Latin America 50,641 59,025 16.6% Middle East - Africa 33,199 39,904 20.2% (i) Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

The "Digital World" report covers a broad array of topics illustrating the key global trends that underlie how the Internet is used around the world today. Some of the key findings include:

-- The U.S. now accounts for 21 percent of Internet users worldwide. While growth in the number of Internet users in the U.S. has slowed, several Asian and Eastern European countries continue to add new users at a rapid rate. -- Google is the dominant search brand in most countries, including most of Europe and Latin America, with a few significant exceptions -- countries where Chinese, Korean, and Russian languages dominate. -- Chinese language search engine Baidu currently ranks #3 in worldwide search market share, behind Google and Yahoo! -- The number of worldwide visitors to social networking sites has grown 34 percent in the past year to 530 million, representing approximately 2 out of every 3 Internet users. MySpace and Facebook are in a tight battle for the global leadership position, each attracting more than 100 million visitors per month. -- Online video has become the dominant online entertainment format, led by the global popularity of YouTube with more than 250 million visitors in January. -- The Internet has become an important source of news for most Web users. The top 10 global news brands show great diversity between country of origin, including the U.S., U.K., China and South Korea.

The comScore "Digital World" report is priced at US$4,999 for the first copy and US$999 for each additional copy shipped to the same address, and can be purchased online at http://www.comscore.com/reports.

About comScore

comScore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world. This capability is based on a massive, global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given comScore permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behavior, including online and offline purchasing. comScore panelists also participate in survey research that captures and integrates their attitudes and intentions. Through its proprietary technology, comScore measures what matters across a broad spectrum of behavior and attitudes. comScore analysts apply this deep knowledge of customers and competitors to help clients design powerful marketing strategies and tactics that deliver superior ROI. comScore services are used by nearly 900 clients, including global leaders such as AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!, BBC, Carat, Cyworld, Deutsche Bank, France Telecom, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Financial Times, ESPN, Fox Sports, Nestle, Starcom, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Verizon, ViaMichelin, Merck and Expedia. For more information, please visit http://www.comscore.com

Web site: http://www.comscore.com

Andrew Lipsman of comScore, Inc., +1-312-775-6510, press@comscore.com. Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080115/COMSCORELOGO, AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org, PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com