U.S. Web Users Spent Just Over 66 Hours on the Computer in November
The Nielsen Company today reported November 2009 data for the Top Parent Companies/Divisions and Top Web Brands, as well as average Internet usage. — Top 10 Parent Companies/Divisions for November 2009 (U.S. …
Context & Ripple Effects
Nielsen's November 2009 rankings land in a two-firm measurement market where audience numbers are the raw material for ad budgets: comScore had been publishing worldwide top web properties rankings since 2007 and quarterly search shares, while IDC counted U.S. internet advertising growing 27% through 2008 — money priced against exactly the kind of engagement data this release supplies.
The 66-hour monthly figure matters because engagement time was rising on the back of video: by mid-2007 comScore had already found three out of four U.S. internet users streaming video online, the usage category most likely to convert casual sessions into hours.
First-order effects
- Media planners and their agencies get the November baseline they need to close out 2009 online budget allocations, with Nielsen's parent-company and brand rankings telling them which portals and platforms command the hours.
- The ranked parent companies and web brands gain or lose negotiating leverage with advertisers based on where they sit in the monthly table — position in Nielsen's list is itself a sales asset.
Second-order effects
- comScore is forced to keep answering with its own property and search rankings, sharpening methodological rivalry between the two measurement firms over whose panel better captures engagement hours.
- Video-heavy properties benefit disproportionately from the hours metric, pushing ad pricing toward formats that hold users longer rather than ones that maximize page views.
Third-order effects
- If time-spent stays the denominator for both ad rates and brand league tables, web economics consolidate around an attention-hours model — rewarding platforms engineered for session duration and making measurement methodology a competitive battleground in its own right.
The trend: Web measurement is settling on time-spent as the core engagement metric that ad pricing, brand rankings, and platform strategy are all built against.