PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP has verified that the MSN® network of Internet services now attracts 350 million unique worldwide users per month. This increase in global reach extends the network"s hold on the title of world"s leading online destination and provides an even larger base of potential customers for advertisers and premium services. "The large number of consumers visiting our network each month is solid proof that MSN is delivering the most useful online experience," said Lisa Gurry, group product manager for MSN at Microsoft Corp. "We"re focused on offering the best communication and information services for broadband users, and this commitment is paying off with an increase in traffic to MSN.."
The 350 million users milestone represents a 17 percent increase since September 2002. In fact, the network"s monthly unique users are nearly double the number of people (179 million) who visited Tokyo Disneyland, the world"s most popular theme park, during the 1990s, and more than four and one-half times greater than the total number of people (75.5 million) who visited France, the world"s most popular tourist destination, in 2000.
The increased traffic to the MSN network has been driven by strong growth in communication services such as MSN Hotmail®, the world"s largest free Web-based e-mail service, with more than 130 million active users worldwide, and MSN Messenger, the world"s largest free instant messaging service, with 100 million unique users each month. The increasing popularity of the network"s information services, such as MSN Search and MSN Entertainment, also has helped increase overall MSN traffic.