Year-End 2013: Nielsen Releases Top Web Brands, Video Brands, Smartphone Apps, and Mobile OS Rankings
As more Web users shift to mobile and tablet screens, Web activity using computer browsers declined slightly among the top 10 websites [during 2013].
Online video viewing, however, continued to grow, and YouTube remained the top source for streaming, as 128 million Americans viewed video content on the site each month.
Smartphone penetration grew from 56 percent at the start of 2013 to nearly two-thirds (65%) of U.S. mobile subscribers by October 2013, and a majority of subscribers used Android (52%) or iOS (41%) smartphones.
Along with growing ownership came increased activity using smartphone apps: Facebook remained the most-used smartphone app across Android and iOS handsets, with more than 103 million unique users each month. Among the top 10 apps, Instagram was up 66 percent in terms of unique users, making it the fastest growing app over the past year.
The Complete Top 10 Lists are available here.
Data for all charts from from January – October 2013 (Total). Ranked on average monthly unique viewers.
Top U.S. Web Brands for 2013
Rank |
Web Brand |
Avg Unique Audience |
YoY % Change |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 164,805,000 | -6% | |
2 | 134,943,000 | -16% | |
3 | Yahoo | 129,801,000 | -9% |
Top U.S. Online Video Brands for 2013
Rank |
Site |
Avg Unique Viewers |
YoY % Change |
---|---|---|---|
1 | YouTube | 128,436,000 | -6% |
2 | VEVO | 37,209,000 | -9% |
3 | Yahoo | 35,412,000 | -8% |
Top U.S. Smartphone Apps for 2013
Rank |
App |
Avg Unique Users |
YoY % Change |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 103,420,000 | 27% | |
2 | Google Search | 75,984,000 | 37% |
3 | Google Play | 73,667,000 | 28% |
Top 10 charts for all categories available here (via Nielsen)
Filed under: Data Files, News, Patrons and Users, Video Recordings

About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com. Gary is also the co-founder of infoDJ an innovation research consultancy supporting corporate product and business model teams with just-in-time fact and insight finding.