Visitors from outside boost India's local news destinations
The report found that among the top local news destinations in India, most brands saw non-residents contribute a significant share of global visitors with 36.2% of The Times of India's global audience and 31.6% of Oneindia's audience originating from outside the country. Other sites including those within the portals, financial and sports categories, also saw significant non-resident traffic drive their global audience reach.
"With many local sites attracting a significant portion of visitors from outside of India, these visitors, who are very likely to be non-resident Indians, are an important segment for brands to consider in their digital strategies and often represent very active online users," said Kedar Gavane, comScore director for India. "Understanding this important geographic distinction in audience composition is important for publishers in delivering relevant content and for advertisers in reaching their desired audiences."
Local news destinations see significant traffic from outside of India
Among some of the largest local news sites in India, many destinations generated a significant portion of their traffic from outside of India. The Times of India, which ranked as the largest site in the newspaper category with nearly 7.9 million visitors in India (age 15 and older accessing from a home or work location), attracted 36.2% of its global traffic from outside of India in September. Oneindia reached more than 4.4 million visitors in India in September 2011, with 31.6% of its global visitor base accessing from outside of the country, while HT Media Ltd saw 28.1% of visitation from outside of India. 20.1% of India.com Sites' global visitors were non-residents, with the largest local general news destination in India, NDTV, seeing 38.2% of its audience represented by this segment of visitors.
Among these selected news sites, Mid-Day.com and DeccanChronicle.com displayed the largest percentage of visitors from outside of India with both drawing more than 45% of their global audiences from outside of the country.
| Selected Newspaper Sites in India by Total Unique Visitors (000) September 2011 Total India - Visitors Age 15+ Home/Work Locations* (Source: comScore Media Metrix) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Unique Visitors in India (000) | Total Unique Visitors Worldwide (000) | % of Global Unique Visitors in India | % of Global Unique Visitors Outside India | |
| The Times of India | 7,871 | 12,336 | 63.8% | 36.2% |
| Oneindia | 4,449 | 6,501 | 68.4% | 31.6% |
| HT Media Ltd | 4,393 | 6,109 | 71.9% | 28.1% |
| India.com Sites | 3,786 | 4,737 | 79.9% | 20.1% |
| NDTV | 3,558 | 5,756 | 61.8% | 38.2% |
| The Economic Times | 3,169 | 4,340 | 73.0% | 27.0% |
| IBN Live | 2,355 | 3,562 | 66.1% | 33.9% |
| The Indian Express Group | 2,022 | 2,961 | 68.3% | 31.7% |
| The Hindu Group | 1,885 | 2,850 | 66.1% | 33.9% |
| Bhaskar.com | 1,672 | 2,105 | 79.4% | 20.6% |
| Navbharat Times | 938 | 1,081 | 86.7% | 13.3% |
| Dnaindia.com | 743 | 1,129 | 65.9% | 34.1% |
| Mid-day.com | 450 | 821 | 54.8% | 45.2% |
| Maharashtra Times | 395 | 446 | 88.6% | 11.4% |
| Financialexpress.com | 384 | 460 | 83.4% | 16.6% |
| Dinakaran.com | 297 | 417 | 71.2% | 28.8% |
| Deccanchronicle.com | 293 | 583 | 50.2% | 49.8% |
| Deccanherald.com | 286 | 461 | 62.0% | 38.0% |
*Excludes visits from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs
Portals, banks and cricket sites witness strong visitation from outside of India
Other local destinations also saw visitors from outside of India contribute significantly to their global audiences. Portal IN.com saw more than half (50.4%) of its worldwide audience come from outside of India, while the largest banking site in India, ICICI Bank
CricBuzz.com and CricTime.com saw non-resident traffic at 34.2% and 46.0% of their total global audience, while entertainment site BharatMovies.com had more than half (56.5%) of its visitors access from countries other than India.
| Selected Sites in India by Total Unique Visitors (000) September 2011 Total India - Visitors Age 15+ Home/Work Locations* (Source: comScore Media Metrix) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Unique Visitors in India (000) | Total Unique Visitors Worldwide (000) | % of Global Unique Visitors in India | % of Global Unique Visitors Outside India | |
| Selected Portals | ||||
| Times Internet Limited | 17,522 | 24,159 | 72.5% | 27.5% |
| Rediff.com India Ltd | 15,494 | 19,003 | 81.5% | 18.5% |
| IN.com | 10,176 | 20,513 | 49.6% | 50.4% |
| Sify Ltd | 3,032 | 3,892 | 77.9% | 22.1% |
| Selected Financial Sites | ||||
| ICICI Bank | 4,811 | 5,733 | 83.9% | 16.1% |
| Moneycontrol.com | 4,332 | 6,109 | 70.9% | 29.1% |
| HDFC Group | 4,156 | 4,532 | 91.7% | 8.3% |
| State Bank of India | 3,870 | 4,265 | 90.7% | 9.3% |
| Selected Sports Sites | ||||
| Espncricinfo.com | 3,785 | 7,945 | 47.6% | 52.4% |
| Cricbuzz.com | 1,114 | 1,693 | 65.8% | 34.2% |
| Crictime.com | 895 | 1,657 | 54.0% | 46.0% |
| Cricketnext | 340 | 524 | 64.8% | 35.2% |
| Other Selected Sites | ||||
| Sulekha | 5,333 | 7,497 | 71.1% | 28.9% |
| MakeMyTrip | 4,080 | 4,808 | 84.9% | 15.1% |
| ClearTrip | 3,453 | 3,872 | 89.2% | 10.8% |
| Bharatmovies.com | 1,207 | 2,773 | 43.5% | 56.5% |
*Excludes visits from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs
Source: comScore
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