14 DAY TRIAL // It's all about Google from where Microsoft is sitting in the ranking for parent companies. The Redmond company is no longer the leader of the Top 10 Web Sites by Parent Company put together by Nielsen//NetRatings. Microsoft was in fact been dethroned by Google. Of course that the trio Microsoft, Yahoo and Google is still at [ADMARk=1]the top of the Internet audience rankings for both brands and parent companies on the U.S. market. "A parent company is defined as a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs owned by a single entity. A brand is defined as a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs that has a consistent collection of branded content", revealed Nielsen//NetRatings.
In this manner, Microsoft is positioned to experience first hand how Google's dominance over search and online advertising is expanding to encompass additional Internet "real estate". According to Nielsen//NetRatings, Google attracted a unique audience of 118 million users in September, with each user spending an average of an hour and a half online. Microsoft is runner-up parent company with 117 million unique visitors and a Time per Person of two hours. From the third position, Yahoo with just 109 million unique users features an average time per person of over three hours.
The positions are rather similar when it comes to top Internet brands, although there is some shifting involved. Google again takes the lion's share of audience with 112 unique visitors, but just an average time of one hour. When it comes to brands, Yahoo's position is more solid than that of Microsoft, managing to attract some 108 million unique visitors, and to keep their eyeballs glued to the monitors for over three hours. MSN/Windows Live come in third position with a unique audience of 94 million and an average time of almost two hours. Microsoft itself is just fourth with 92 million visitors and a Time per Person of just 42 minutes.