comScore: Microsoft commands much of users' online time

According to comScore's September figures, Microsoft leads Google when it comes to time spent online - 3.9 billion hours vs. 2.5 billion hours - capturing 15% of the total time spent online, globally, in that month.

Meanwhile, Yahoo's share of online time decreased 14% to 1.7 billion.

It was a record month for Internet use with a record high online population of 1.2 billion (aged 15 years and over) spending nearly 27 billion hours online, found the report.

"The Internet continues to be a dynamic and growing environment around the world with the global online population climbing more than 20% in the last year," said comScore Media Metrix executive vice president Jack Flanagan.

Facebook showed the largest increase, rising 193% from 474 billion hours in September 2008 to 1,387 billion in September 2009. In the U.S., Facebook already accounts for over 8% of all ad impressions.

Tags: comscore, Internet usage, Media Metrix, online population