Media

Google Sites Audience Hits 246 Million, Topping Industry

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: December 23, 2016 8:40 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 4:28 pm

Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google sites were at the head of U.S. internet properties in November, based on unique visitors. They posted over 246 million according to comScore, ahead of second-place Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) at 209 million. Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) sites were the only others above 200 million, as a group logging in third place at 206 million. Other than the largest search engine company and world’s largest social medium, the media and portal sites at the top of the list have struggled to drive advertising revenue enough to be highly profitable.

Microsoft sites ranked fourth at 189 million, which included its MSN portal. Portal company AOL ranked in eighth place with 160 million unique visitors.

The only e-commerce site in the top 10 was Amazon at 141 million. Wal-Mart sites ranked 17th with 111 million.

Among the largest media sites, CBS Interactive had 167 million, followed by NBCUniversal, which was behind it by only a few hundred thousand visitors. Behind them, Turner Digital, which includes CNN, had 152 million. The Time Network had 128 million, followed by the USA Today Network at 122 million and New York Times Digital operations at 118 million.

While e-commerce company Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) has had spectacular success, portals and media companies continue to battle over the very modest ad market that is left after ad spending on Facebook and Google, the revenues of which have been put at over 50% of all new online spending in 2015.

The nature of the trouble for media companies that have moved much of their content online from traditional TV and print has shown up in their earnings. For example, Yahoo and Time Inc. have been dealing with falling revenue, with no ready solutions.

Google and Facebook are the largest U.S. properties, and they get an outsized portion of online revenue.