From: reid@decwrl.dec.com (Brian Reid)
Subject: TOP 40 NEWSGROUPS IN ORDER BY POPULARITY (AUG 92)
Originator: reid@torrey.pa.dec.com
Keywords: arbitron, statistics
Organization: DEC Network Systems Laboratory, Palo Alto, Calif., USA
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 05:09:38 GMT

TOP 40 NEWSGROUPS IN ORDER BY POPULARITY
A companion posting explains the statistics and the algorithms that produced
them.

        +-- Estimated total number of people who read the group, worldwide.
        |     +-- Actual number of readers in sampled population
        |     |     +-- Propagation: how many sites receive this group at all
        |     |     |      +-- Recent traffic (messages per month)
        |     |     |      |      +-- Recent traffic (kilobytes per month)
        |     |     |      |      |      +-- Crossposting percentage
        |     |     |      |      |      |    +-- Cost ratio: $US/month/rdr
        |     |     |      |      |      |    |      +-- Share: % of newsrders
        |     |     |      |      |      |    |      |   who read this group.
        V     V     V      V      V      V    V      V
   1 300000  6524   83%   871  1706.4    26%  0.01  12.1%  misc.jobs.offered
   2 270000  5912   82%  1513  1879.2    30%  0.02  11.0%  misc.forsale
   3 260000  5561   67%  2047  5205.5    33%  0.04  10.3%  alt.sex
   4 230000  4979   81%    64    89.8     0%  0.00   9.2%  rec.humor.funny
   5 200000  4416   81%     8   164.6    75%  0.00   8.2%  news.answers
   6 190000  4068   80%  2041  3419.5    11%  0.04   7.5%  rec.humor
   7 180000  3896   86%   942  1904.2    14%  0.02   7.2%  comp.windows.x
   8 170000  3740   89%   897  1860.2    13%  0.03   6.9%  news.groups
   9 170000  3577   70%     1    40.2     0%  0.00   6.6%  rec.arts.erotica
  10 160000  3498   88%    85   629.0   100%  0.01   6.5%  news.announce.newgroups
  11 160000  3480   80%  2413  2867.7    18%  0.04   6.5%  misc.forsale.computers
  12 160000  3431   71%  3606  4611.7    12%  0.06   6.4%  talk.bizarre
  13 160000  3423   81%   543  1120.3    15%  0.02   6.3%  misc.jobs.misc
  14 150000  3300   89%   619  1561.8    41%  0.03   6.1%  news.admin
  15 150000  3224   83%   780  1181.3    22%  0.02   6.0%  comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
  16 150000  3190   52%  1535 64487.3     7%  0.62   5.9%  alt.binaries.pictures.erotica
  17 150000  3151   64%  1459  4985.9     3%  0.06   5.8%  alt.sex.bondage
  18 140000  3117   86%  1042  1849.5    13%  0.03   5.8%  comp.lang.c
  19 140000  3108   88%   330   505.7     5%  0.01   5.8%  news.newusers.questions
  20 140000  3077   84%   795  2095.3    14%  0.03   5.7%  comp.graphics
  21 140000  2935   86%   118   894.3     0%  0.02   5.4%  news.announce.conferences
  22 130000  2881   77%   158  4153.7     9%  0.07   5.3%  alt.sources
  23 130000  2756   84%   185   348.6    24%  0.01   5.1%  comp.misc
  24 130000  2732   79%   439   520.5    36%  0.01   5.1%  misc.wanted
  25 130000  2719   72%  2795  6127.6    13%  0.09   5.0%  soc.culture.indian
  26 130000  2713   85%  1140  2665.6     8%  0.05   5.0%  comp.lang.c++
  27 120000  2693   81%    83  4150.3     0%  0.08   5.0%  comp.binaries.ibm.pc
  28 120000  2691   84%     1     2.0     0%  0.00   5.0%  news.announce.important
  29 120000  2679   81%  1119  1764.3     6%  0.03   5.0%  sci.electronics
  30 120000  2599   84%    60  2984.0     0%  0.06   4.8%  comp.sources.misc
  31 120000  2592   83%  2040  3165.6    15%  0.06   4.8%  comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
  32 120000  2563   77%   366   637.1    30%  0.01   4.8%  misc.jobs.contract
  33 120000  2546   67%   962  3930.4    62%  0.06   4.7%  alt.activism
  34 120000  2514   77%  2618  5147.0     7%  0.09   4.7%  rec.arts.movies
  35 120000  2497   87%   736  1141.3    12%  0.02   4.6%  comp.unix.questions
  36 110000  2463   76%  1412  2292.8    15%  0.04   4.6%  rec.travel
  37 110000  2432   70%  3107  7984.2    62%  0.14   4.5%  talk.politics.misc
  38 110000  2365   80%   410  2212.7     3%  0.04   4.4%  misc.jobs.resumes
  39 110000  2315   85%   541   944.7    18%  0.02   4.3%  comp.databases
  40 110000  2305   73%  2484  4300.1     2%  0.08   4.3%  soc.singles
Newsgroups: news.lists,news.groups