comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, released a study of how Internet users spend their time online in Greater China (defined as Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong) based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. The report found that Portals commanded the largest share of online minutes, accounting for 24.4 percent of total time in Greater China, followed by the Entertainment, Search/Navigation, Social Networking and Retail site categories. These five categories combined accounted for half of all time spent online in Greater China during April. Separately, comScore also announced the appointment of Xinyu Huang to the position of senior vice president of Greater China.

“The digital environment is constantly growing and evolving and no place is greater proof of this than Greater China,” said Xinyu Huang, comScore senior vice president of Greater China. “To support these burgeoning digital economies, agencies, advertisers and publishers need reliable audience metrics in order to move ad dollars online, helping the industry to flourish. comScore aims to support this growth by continuing to bring its trusted digital measurement solutions to these markets.”

Online Users Spend Largest Share of Time on Portal and Entertainment Sites

Internet users age 15 and older accessing the Internet from a home or work location in Greater China (which includes Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong for this study) allocated the largest share of their time online to Portal sites in April. During the month, Portals accounted for 24.4 percent of time spent online in Greater China. Entertainment sites followed accounting for 9 percent, with Search/Navigation securing 6.2 percent of total minutes. Social Networking accounted for just 5.5 percent of total minutes, less than one-third of the category’s percentage on a worldwide basis. The Retail category ranked fifth with 5.0 percent of time spent in Greater China.

Analysis of the most-visited sites across these categories showed Tencent, Inc. leading as the top Portal in Greater China reaching 64.4 percent of all Internet users in the market. Online video provider Youku, Inc. led as the largest Entertainment site reaching 19.2 percent of online users, while Baidu.com Inc. ranked as the largest Search/Navigation property reaching 59.4 percent of web users.

Oak Pacific Interactive Sites, which includes Renren.com, led as the most-visited Social Networking destination in Greater China reaching 17.8 percent of unique visitors, while Alibaba.com Corporation held the #1 spot among Retail destinations reaching 36.5 percent of visitors.