Nielsen’s Tops of 2011: Digital

December 28, 2011

As 2011 comes to a close, Nielsen reviewed the top online destinations, social media sites, and smartphone devices. Google was the most-visited U.S. Web brand, while Facebook held its lead among social networks and blogs. Smartphones were popular in 2011, making up the majority of new phone purchases with Apple as the top smartphone manufacturer and Android as the leading OS.

Top 10 U.S. Web Brands in 2011
Rank Web Brand Avg # of Unique Visitors (000)
per month
1 Google 153,441
2 Facebook 137,644
3 Yahoo! 130,121
4 MSN/WindowsLive/Bing 115,890
5 YouTube 106,692
6 Microsoft 83,691
7 AOL Media Network 74,633
8 Wikipedia 62,097
9 Apple 61,608
10 Ask Search Network 60,552
Source: Nielsen

Data from January – October 2011, Home and Work Computers. Ranked on average monthly unique audience.

Read as: During 2011, 153.4 million U.S. people, on average, visited Google sites from home and work computers

Top 10 U.S. Social Networks & Blogs
Rank Web Brand Avg # of Unique Visitors (000)
per month
1 Facebook 137,644
2 Blogger 45,712
3 Twitter.com 23,574
4 WordPress.com 20,357
5 Myspace.com 17,935
6 LinkedIn 17,020
7 Tumblr 10,879
8 Google+ 8,207
9 Yahoo! Pulse 8,063
10 Six Apart TypePad 7,793
Source: Nielsen

Data from January – October 2011, Home and Work Computers. Ranked on average monthly unique audience.

Read as: During 2011, 137.6 million U.S. people, on average, visited Facebook from home and work computers

For more insights and stats about how consumers use social media, please see Nielsen’s Q3 2011 Social Media Report

Top 10 U.S. Online Destinations for Video
Rank Web Brand Avg # of Unique Video Viewers
per month
1 YouTube 111,152
2 VEVO 34,580
3 Facebook 29,802
4 Yahoo! 25,324
5 MSN/WindowsLive/Bing 16,563
6 AOL Media Network 13,327
7 Hulu 13,159
8 The CollegeHumor Network 12,496
9 CNN Digital Network 8,262
10 Netflix 7,418
Source: Nielsen

Data from January – October 2011, Home and Work Computers. Ranked on average monthly unique viewers.

Read as: During 2011, 111.2 million U.S. people, on average, watched video content on YouTube from home and work computers

Top 5 Smartphone Device Manufacturers
Rank Manufacturer Market Share
1 Apple 29%
2 HTC 21%
3 RIM BlackBerry 17%
4 Samsung 11%
5 Motorola 11%
Source: Nielsen

Data from August – October 2011.

Read as: 29 percent of mobile phone users who recently purchased a new smartphone bought an Apple device

For more smartphone market data and insights about how consumer use their mobile devices, please see Nielsen’s Mobile Media Report for 2011.

For more insights, download Nielsen reports and webinars, or contact us.
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