What are the most notable habits of Latin American Internet users? What are their priorities when it comes to consuming different media? What categories do they prefer? The answers to these questions and more, according to comScore’s December 2015 rankings.
| Source: comScore MMX, Latin America, December 2015, Home and Work, Top Categories, PC/Laptop Only | Total Unique Visitors (000) | % Reach | Total Minutes (MM) | Total Visits (000) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Internet : Total Audience | 182.473 | 100,0 | 217.869 | 8.224.576 | |
| 1 | Services | 178.157 | 97,6 | 35.581 | 5.310.178 |
| 2 | Social Media | 166.137 | 91,0 | 65.032 | 3.917.516 |
| 3 | Search/Navigation | 164.688 | 90,3 | 6.801 | 3.058.071 |
| 4 | Portals | 164.101 | 89,9 | 27.005 | 3.439.753 |
| 5 | Entertainment | 163.894 | 89,8 | 42.996 | 2.781.671 |
| 6 | News/Information | 120.573 | 66,1 | 7.347 | 1.211.204 |
| 7 | Directories/Resources | 119.485 | 65,5 | 3.135 | 718.511 |
| 8 | Retail | 119.249 | 65,4 | 5.718 | 854.644 |
| 9 | Technology | 104.375 | 57,2 | 1.415 | 440.690 |
| 10 | Lifestyles | 102.192 | 56,0 | 2.765 | 519.385 |
E-mail, Download Sites and Web Hosting Among the Top Activities
97,6% of resident users in Latin America tend to use services like e-mail, downloads and web hosting as a part of their primary online activities. The total number of visitors in this category puts it in first place in the rankings, even above social networks and search engines.
Social Networks Before Search Engines
While the difference is less than a percentage point, social networks are ranked above search engines. This is interesting, as Google sites typically occupy the first stop in comScore rankings (although if we only considered the search engine, Google would probably be ranked lower in those rankings0. Of course, the classification analyzed in this article, within the category of Google “search engines,” Google is not the only in the region, although it is the most emblematic and visited of the group.
In this ranking, when it comes to the amount of visitors, there is almost no difference between social media platforms and search engines. Nonetheless, inequality appears with respect to the amount of time users stay on the page: the minutes that users spend on search engines represents 10% of those spent on social networks. There is a reason for this: generally, search engines resolve users’ consultations in seconds, while social networks generate an engagement that is reflected in the total number of minutes spent on these platforms.
Similarities in Portals and Entertainment
It is interesting to observe how portals and entertainment sites are visited by the same percentage of users. While they appear individually on the rankings (due to their particularities), what is certain is that portals also tend to satisfy certain entertainment needs by the users.
When it comes to visitor behavior, certain difference are observed: while the amount of minutes on portals is less than that of entertainment sites, the number of visits to portals is larger than that of entertainment sites. In this sense, portals observe “less time on the site and more visits,” while entertainment sites observe “more time on the site, and less visits.”
Another interesting point is that the amount of unique users in each category is similar to that of visitors in the social media category (which should not be ignored when evaluating the reach of the “portal” and “entertainment” categories, individually).
News and Information in Sixth Place
Only some Latin American countries prioritize news and information sites. This is reflected in the rankings, in which this category comes in sixth with 66% of the visitors, below the entertainment category.
Inquiries for Useful Data, Visited by 65.5% of Users
65.5% of users use directories, maps and wikis to resolve everyday problems (according to the rankings for Directories/Resources on the rankings).
Retail, Technology and Lifestyle
In the last three spots are retail (65.4%), technology (57.2%) and lifestyle (56%). What’s interesting is the connection between the three categories: some technology sites have a direct connection to retail sites, and both categories are very associated with lifestyle.
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