One of the world’s largest online peoplemetric companies, Nielsen Online has issued its first monthly report on the behaviour of online users in Bulgaria.

Although a useful source, it should be noted that only Bulgaria-based visitors are included in the data.

Netinfo.bg emerged as the most popular Bulgarian site in April with weighted average unique visits of 585 504 visits and 76.3 per cent coverage, according to Nielsen Online. Investor.bg and Rezon Media Group, the publisher of specialised editions for accountants and tax officials, among others, came second and third respectively, with weighted average unique visits of 230 013 and 85 139 unique visits and 30 and 11.1 per cent coverage of the entire online audience.

Economedia, the publisher of business weekly Kapital and business daily Dnevnik, which is also the majority partner in Sofia Echo Media, the publisher of The Sofia Echo, emerged fifth with 52 850 unique visitors and 6.9 per cent coverage in April.

The online version of Dnevnik emerged as the third-most popular news site in Bulgaria with an average of 25 064 readers a day, losing out only to netinfo.bg and dnes.bg.

Investor.bg emerges as the winner in the business and finance category, the Nielsen report records, with readers spending on average 14.4 minutes per visit.

Aha.bg topped the communities category ranking with visitors spending 31 minutes per visit on average and having 158 million impressions a month.

According to Nielsen, nearly 62.7 per cent of Bulgaria’s Internet users are aged between 18 and 34 years. More than 43 per cent are university graduates and 34 per cent are secondary school graduates. More than 24 per cent are jobless and 36 per cent earn up to 600 leva a month.

About 35 per cent of online users live in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia and a mere three per cent live in villages.