Smartphone owners became the majority of mobile phone users for the first time this year, growing from 49 percent of mobile subscribers in Q1 2012, to 56 percent by Q3 2012. Mobile app usage also continued to grow. Among the top 10 mobile apps, Twitter was the fastest growing Android app, and the Facebook Messenger app grew the most among iPhone apps.
Google remained the top Web brand, with an average 172 million unique visitors each month between January and October 2012, followed by Facebook, which garnered an average of 153 million visits each month. Online video continued to grow in 2012, but YouTube remained the top online video source, averaging 132 million unique viewers during the year.
Top 10 U.S. Web Brands of 2012
Rank
Site
Avg No. of Unique Visitors Per Month
1
Google
172,649,000
2
Facebook
152,996,000
3
Yahoo!
141,579,000
4
YouTube
128,341,000
5
MSN/WindowsLive/Bing
127,822,000
6
Microsoft
92,764,000
7
AOL Media Network
86,638,000
8
Amazon
78,128,000
9
Wikipedia
76,031,000
10
Ask Search Network
73,361,000
Source: Nielsen. Data from January 2012 – October 2012 (Total). Ranked on average monthly unique audience.Read as: During 2012, 172.6 million people, on average, visited Google.
Top 10 U.S. Online Destinations for Video of 2012
Rank
Site
Avg No. of Unique Viewers Per Month
Avg No. of Streams Per Month
1
YouTube
132,468,000
15,004,387,000
2
Yahoo!
39,725,000
354,024,000
3
VEVO
37,714,000
547,615,000
4
AOL Media Network
24,563,000
446,363,000
5
Facebook
23,910,000
111,737,000
6
MSN/WindowsLive/Bing
22,601,000
215,803,000
7
The CollegeHumor Network
20,164,000
72,519,000
8
Hulu
14,627,000
832,515,000
9
ESPN Digital Network
13,081,000
245,667,000
10
Perform Group
11,554,000
71,396,000
Source: Nielsen. Data from January 2012 – October 2012 (Total). Ranked on average monthly unique viewers.Read as: During 2012 132.5 million people, on average, streamed video from YouTube each month.
Top Android Apps of 2012
Rank
Apps
Avg Unique Users
YTD Change %
1
Google Search
46,386,000
54%
2
Gmail
44,516,000
45%
3
Facebook
42,379,000
48%
4
Google Maps
41,976,000
41%
5
YouTube
32,223,000
70%
6
Pandora Radio
11,600,000
55%
7
Twitter
10,674,000
122%
8
Adobe Reader
10,354,000
64%
9
Advanced Task Killer
9,569,000
-11%
10
The Weather Channel
8,983,000
59%
Source: Nielsen, Data from January – October 2012 (Android only). Ranked on average monthly unique users.Read as: During 2012 46 million Android smartphone owners used the Google Search app on average each month, growing their unique users 54% between January and October 2012.
Top 10 iPhone Apps of 2012
Rank
Apps
Avg Unique Users
YTD Change %
1
Maps
32,365,000
23%
2
Facebook
28,585,000
51%
3
YouTube
22,626,000
-4%
4
Stocks
21,080,000
51%
5
Weather
20,531,000
41%
6
Facebook Messenger
10,458,000
544%
7
The Weather Channel
10,446,000
54%
8
Twitter
9,748,000
47%
9
Pandora Radio
9,563,000
47%
10
Instagram
6,910,000
197%
Source: Nielsen, Data from January – October 2012 (iOS only). Ranked on average monthly unique users.Read as: During 2012 28 million iPhone owners used the Facebook app on average each month, growing their unique users 51% between January and October 2012.
We recently launched The Gauge, our new monthly total TV and streaming snapshot, which shows that streaming usage across all television homes has climbed to 26% of all time spent on TV.
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According to the Nielsen Remote Workers Consumer Survey, work-from-home consumers are enjoying the change in their daily work routines. And to no surprise, the new normal includes a heavy dose of media consumption.
