Johannesburg — News24.com has reported more than a million unique users in November, saying it is the first local Web site to break the seven-figure mark.

According to the November report from measurement company Nielsen//NetRatings Market Intelligence, which received the statistics from the Online Publishers' Association (OPA), over 1.1 million people accessed the News24 site.

IOL was the second most visited site, attracting 948 167 unique users, followed by iAfrica with 476 683.

In terms of online volume, the definition of unique users remains problematic as it is open to interpretation, says Dave Murray, IT director for e-marketing and metrics consultants Clickthinking.

"For example, if a person logs onto a site at work, and then later on from home, technically that is two unique users, as it comes from different IP addresses. The figures you end up with depend on your interpretation," he says.

"That said, I still think a mainstream site could have attracted a million genuinely unique users."

The OPA established Nielsen//NetRatings Market Intelligence as the online standard for Internet measurement in SA in February 2004.

Table 1: Top 10 sites in November according to Nielsen//NetRatings

Rank

Site

Unique users

Page impressions

1

news24.com

1 104 858

13 615 328

2

iol.co.za

948 167

10 166 949

3

iafrica.com

476 683

9 772 607

4

ananzi.co.za

464 802

8 371 757

5

www.mweb.co.za

412 270

13 680 093

6

sundaytimes.co.za

222 745

2 270 309

7

mg.co.za

206 578

1 631 933

8

supersport.co.za

197 142

5 888 444

9

wheels24.co.za

187 567

3 007 210

10

tiscali.co.za

181 303

1 567 531