Yahoo! Mail Ranks as Top Web-Based Email Service in Japan
TOKYO, JAPAN, January 15, 2008 – Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a study of Web-based email usage in Japan, which showed that the number of visitors to email sites increased 22 percent during the past year, fueled in large part by greater adoption among older Internet users.
“The increase in visitation to email sites has largely been driven by an increase in usage among the older age segments, reflecting the maturation of the Internet as a communication vehicle,” said Maru Sato, managing director of Comscore Japan. “As the demographic composition of online users continues to expand, marketers will have the opportunity to reach and influence audiences online that previously were only reachable through offline media.
Older Segments Increase in Usage of Email, While Younger Segments Decline
An analysis of email usage by age revealed that older age segments were largely responsible for the growth in the email category during the past year. The number of people age 55 and older using Web-based email grew 88 percent during the past year to 7 million users in November and now accounts for more than 20 percent of all visitors to the email site category. This age group spends the most time per person on email sites at 121 minutes per visitor in November, up 11 percent from the prior year. Internet users between the ages of 45-54 also contributed to significant growth in email usage, increasing 20 percent to 5.5 million visitors in November, while their usage increased 108 percent to 108 minutes per visitor.
Though email usage has increased considerably among older age segments, the story is quite different among those under the age of 35. The younger demographic segments either decreased or witnessed very little increase in visits to email sites, which can likely be attributed to a greater reliance on alternate communication channels including social media and accessing email via mobile devices. The most dramatic decline in the email category was observed among the youngest segment, the 15-24 year olds, with 7 percent fewer visitors and a 34-percent decrease in minutes per visitor.
Email Category Age Demographic Analysis November 2008 vs. November 2007Total Japan, Age 15+ - Home and Work Locations*Source: Comscore World Metrix
Total Unique Visitors (000)
Minutes per Visitor
Nov-2007
Nov-2008
% Change
Total Audience
26,493
32,396
22
67.7
84.7
25
Persons – Age
Persons: 15-24
5,289
4,900
-7
70.3
46.1
-34
Persons: 25-34
7,307
7,55
3
57.8
63.9
11
Persons: 35-44
5,568
7,386
33
63.8
80.0
26
Persons: 45-54
4,576
5,511
20
51.8
107.6
108
Persons: 55+
3,753
7,042
88
108.7
120.6
* Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs
Yahoo! Mail Leads Email Category
In November 2008, 32.4 million people in Japan visited Web-based email sites, up 22 percent versus year ago. Yahoo! Mail led the email category by a large margin with nearly 27 million visitors, an increase of 23 percent, followed by Windows Live Hotmail with 7.1 million visitors and Google Gmail with nearly 2.7 million visitors (up 59 percent).
Top 5 Email Sites by Number of Unique Japanese Visitors November 2008 vs. November 2007Total Japan, Age 15+ - Home and Work Locations*Source: Comscore World Metrix
Property
Total Internet : Total Audience
54,153
59,198
9
e-mail
Yahoo! Mail
21,838
26,891
23
Windows Live Hotmail
8,528
7,135
-16
Google Gmail
1,714
2,720
59
Goo Mail
1,145
1,806
58
Nifty Mail
306
181
-41
* Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.
About Comscore
Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) 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.
Contact:Sarah RadwanickDirector, Regional Product MarketingComscore, Inc. +44 (0) 20 7099 1784worldpress@comscore.com