Microsoft leads in world internet audience

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) lags Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) in search and internet advertising. However, according to Comscore, it beat both in global visitors in December 2006. Google grew a bit faster at 13% over the previous year, but Microsoft had over 508 million unique visitors. The number highlights the company's chances of making Microsoft Live work as a server based software system. It also indicates that if the big software company can develop attractive search technology it might cut in to the lead Google and Yahoo! have built.

Major media and e-commerce sites continued to dominate the list of top properties on the Web. Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX) sites, which includes AOL, were fourth. Fox Interactive from News Corp. (NYSE:NWS), The New York Times (NYSE:NYT), and Viacom (NYSE:VIA) Digital all made the top fifteen. In the e-commerce category, eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY), Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) were on the list.

Perhaps the most amazing big web property continues to be Wikipedia, which sat in sixth place. The non-profit, user-edited online encyclopedia continues to draw a tremendous audience.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.