Experian launches Hitwise Internet measurement service for India

• Experian Hitwise will report on more than 200,000 sites across 119 industries and over 6 million search terms in India
• Launch further expands Experian’s digital marketing capabilities in India and globally
• Hitwise analysis shows that Google, Google India and Facebook are the most visited websites in India, accounting for 1 in every 4 Internet visits

Experian, the global information services company, has further expanded its global Marketing Services footprint with the launch of Experian Hitwise in India. Experian’s Internet measurement service will help domestic and international marketers operating in India to improve their online marketing, content development, affiliate strategies and search tactics.

Experian Hitwise reports on more than 200,000 websites across 119 industries and over six million search terms, based on the anonymized and aggregated Internet activity of an opt in panel of Indian Internet users across the country. Used by some of the world’s best known brands, Experian Hitwise also operates in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada, France and Brazil.

Navin Chandani, Managing Director of Experian Marketing Services in India, said: “The launch of Experian Hitwise today, and the recent introduction of CheetahMail, underlines our commitment to investing and growing our market-leading portfolio of digital marketing services in India.  India has the fourth largest Internet population in the world and one that is growing rapidly and Experian Hitwise will provide marketers with the kind of competitive intelligence to help them accurately measure and drive even greater returns from their digital marketing activities.”

Latest Insights from Experian Hitwise: Google, Google India and Facebook are the most visited websites in India, accounting for 1 in every 4 Internet visits. Most Popular Websites across all industry categories ranked by Visits Share for the week ending 1 January 2011

During the week ending 01/01/11, Google (www.google.co.in) was the most visited website in India, representing 11.13% of all Indian Internet visits – equivalent to 1 in every 10. Second and the 4^th position are retained by Google network site (www.google.com) & Gmail. YouTube is the 6^th most visited website in India. This makes Google as the most popular group of websites on the Internet with approximately 25% of all Indian Internet visits – equivalent to almost 1 in every 4 visits.

Facebook is the 3^rd most visited website in India, representing 5.26% of all Indian Internet visits during the week ending 01/01/11. The site accounted for more than one third of all Indian visits to social networks over the same period, picking up over twice as many visits as second placed YouTube. Orkut (www.orkut.com) is still active in India as the third most popular social network.

Search engines are the most popular sites in India

Search Engines are the most visited category of websites in India, representing for 19.59% of all Indian Internet visits during the week ending 01/01/11. Social networks and Forums rank second, representing 12.57% of India Internet visits. Banking and Financial Institutions is the 10^th most visited category of websites.

Navin Chandani commented: “Search engines, social networks and email services are the top categories on the Internet. In India, marketers have realized the importance of search engine based marketing strategies and in the past few years we have seen almost every one taking up Search Engine Optimization. However, Hitwise Clickstream data suggests that social media in India is still gaining momentum and it will be interesting to see how this develops over the coming months and how marketers start to develop their social media strategies.”

Most Popular Sub-Industries across all industry categories ranked by Visits Share for the week ending 1^st January 2011

Visit the Experian web site at: www.experian.in for more details

ENDS

About Experian India

Experian India provides information, analytical tools and marketing services to organizations and consumers to help manage the risk and reward of their commercial and financial decisions. Experian India offers solutions to its customers to manage the entire credit and customer lifecycle from customer targeting and engagement to customer acquisition, customer management and collections & recoveries by combining its wealth of information assets and expertise with an unrivalled range of products and services.

Experian established its operations in India in December 2006 and since then has introduced it key businesses in India including Credit Services, Decision Analytics and Marketing Services. Experian Credit Information Company of India Private Limited is a 49% joint venture with seven of India’s leading banks and NBFCs and on 12 August 2010 became India’s first Credit Information Company to be operational in compliance to the Credit Information Companies Regulations Act of 2005. It is the 16^th consumer credit bureau run by Experian globally.

For more information, visit http://www.experian.in

About Experian

Experian is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients in more than 90 countries. The company helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score, and protect against identity theft.

Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended 31 March 2010 was $3.9 billion. Experian employs approximately 15,000 people in 40 countries and has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; Costa Mesa, California; and São Paulo, Brazil.

For more information, visit http://www.experianplc.com.

Contact:

Experian India

Ranjeet Pawar

+91 98191 91061

[email protected]

Sampark PR

Divya Rathnavath

9845881538

[email protected]

Daphne Jean

9844120151

[email protected]