WebProNews

In February, nearly 74 percent of Japan's online population visited an entertainment site, according to a new study from comScore.

Japanese Internet users spent nearly 15 percent of their total online time during the month on these sites, making the entertainment category one of the most popular and engaging content categories.

"Entertainment sites, which include online video, TV and music destinations, continue to be among the most popular sites on the Web, benefiting from rapidly evolving technologies that have greatly improved the end-user experience," said Maru Sato, managing director of comScore Japan.

"Many of the top entertainment sites manage to combine a large visitor base with heavy user engagement, making them particularly attractive venues for online marketers and advertisers to reach their target audiences."

Over 45.7 million users visited an entertainment site in February, representing nearly 74 percent of the Japanese population. YouTube was the most popular with 21.7 million visitors, with a reach of 35 percent. Other popular entertainment sites included Sony Online (15.2 million visitors), iTunes App Store (12.1 million visitors), Nicovideo (11.2 million visitors) and Fuji Television Network (7.5 million visitors).

Japanese visitors spent an average of nearly three and a half hours (201 minutes per visitor) at entertainment sites in February, with Japan ranking sixth among the 37 individual countries currently reported by comScore.

Of the 20 most visited entertainment sites, Nicovideo.jp led the ranking in terms of engagement with an average of 193 minutes spent per visitor on the popular video site during the month, trailed closely by YouTube.com at 187 minutes.