The unique audience for online search in the United States grew from less than 100 million in February 2003 to more than 140 million in February 2009, up 50 percent, according to the Nielsen Company. Member communities and e-mail also increased from about 60 million uniques to more than 100 million, with 87 percent and 76 percent six-year growth rates, respectively, SFN's World Digital Media Trends 2009 reported.

The biggest gainer, however, is online video, which had an audience of less than 30 million unique users in February 2003. It surpassed email in November 2007, and had more than 100 million viewers in February 2009, up 339 percent within the six years.

In terms of time spent on each sector in the United States, e-mail was on top, and increased from less than six billion minutes in February 2003 to more than 20 billion minutes in February 2009, up 268 percent. Member communities accounted for about two billion minutes, and jumped to more than 20 billion and exceeded e-mail in February 2009, up 883 percent, according to the Nielsen Company.

Search accounted for about 2.5 billion minutes, and increased to about six billion in 2009, a growth of 193 percent.

Online videos/movies boosted more than 1,900 percent within six years, from less than one billion minutes in 2003 to more than six billion minutes in 2009, according to the report, World Digital Media Trends 2009, released by SFN and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.