Sabbath Message 08/02/32/120

 

Dear Friends,

It appears that many do not fully understand the meaning and structure of the CCG statistics as displayed on Quantcast.com. Erroneous conclusions have been drawn from them despite the notations placed on the Quantcast site reports for www.ccg.org and www.logon.org sites. 

To correct the error we will publish some comparison statistics from CCG’s own servers. The notation on the Quantcast site is as follows:

“Please note that Quantcast can only accurately report on pages that contain a specific tag. In the case of the CCG websites it should be noted that a large proportion of the site visitors are accessing areas like FTP and audio that do not and cannot contain this tag. Therefore the reported figures are substantially lower than the actual figures. According to our own server stats the Quantcast reported figures are approximately one quarter to one fifth of our site statistics.”

We have improved the tagging and the percentage is now higher for the html. Despite this warning it has been wrongly assumed that this Quantcast figure represents the total web access of Christian Churches of God. It does not. It represents only the html access and excludes all ftp and audio. The Quantcast record does not state the average time spent on the sites. The html access, to a significant degree, is from newcomers to the site. Another factor is that much of the html access of the papers on the various sites is from time sensitive sites such as cyber cafes and around 18-28% is from educational and work computers. As can be seen by comparison with the average time per visit on CCG’s own stats below for all forms of access, including ftp and audio, as well as html, the actual time on server varies between four and over eight minutes as seen below.

CCG has its own site access reports each week. They are collected by our own servers and server management and formulated as a report for our administration. We also have daily access logs by minutes and seconds for each day.  These log files are often over ten megabytes in size and sometimes they are over 15 megs. We have kept these logs for many years. We review them for administrative purposes.

The web rankings in the USA-controlled sites are xenophobic in that they take into account only the US access stats in determining web rankings. Thus, while www.ccg.org is in the top 100,000 or so, the far more globally accessed www.logon.org ranks only in the 200,000s, because its US access is lower. These rankings are based only on the html files and thus they underestimate the actual position of the CCG Network and the top two web sites completely. Thus, even when other countries’ access is taken into account they are only done so on the html access and thus cover some 25%-35% of actual access.

The following tables are our actual statistics for the week before last which was the week after the Passover. A comparison with the same period on Quantcast.com will show a highly significant discrepancy between the two sets of figures. This is due to the fact that, as we explained previously, most of CCG network access is direct into the papers themselves from bookmarked sites and appears on the stats as “no referrer.”

According to our own stats report for the period, there were over 35,000 no referrer or direct accesses in the week covered by this report in the tables.

Quantcast.com shows that, for CCG Network, the totals are 21.9K people for the US per month and 72.3K people globally per month. We can see from the stats table below the total network access is 38,005 visitors per week or 5, 429 people per day, hence some 163,000+ per month. Total page views per month are between 650,000-800,000, which also agrees with the 4.97 papers per visitor in CCG stats.

The paper downloads are also far less with the html access. Overall downloads are at average 4.97 page views per visitor and not the Quantcast 1.63. The only explanation we have for the discrepancy is that the ftp access is more persistent comeback access and downloads far more papers than the newer html visitors. Our stats show that over 80% of CCG access is no referrer direct access and hence comeback business. Quantcast measurement of the html papers on site shows that 88% are passers-by with 73% of access for ccg.org and less for logon.org. Our stats show the reverse to be the case. There is much more return access than casual passers.

So if it shows misleading or wrong results why do we use it? Why do we use Quantcast and not Alexa for example? The answer is that we find it useful to see what our html access is and how the demographics of the html access is structured. For example, we can get a direct idea of how many US kids are accessing our Bible studies on the 4Kids site. Quantcast tells us that 20% of ccg.org html access is under 18 and 4% of that is 3-11 and 16% is 12-17. Only 27% is over 50 and that is an increase on previous months when it was as low as 25% or less. It also tells us that we have 16% African American access on ccg.org but only 12% on logon.org, whereas logon.org is the reverse in the US with 17% Hispanic and only 5-7% on ccg.org, depending on the month. We also know that we appeal to a better educated audience and to a reasonable size student populace. We are also able to see what our html access is by cities and by our individual sites.

We are also able to compare ourselves with other organisations, both estimated and directly measured.

Why do we not simply abandon ftp access and have html only? Since its inception CCG has tried to provide a standard print format in MS Word. This is so that the page numbered papers are available in an easy to read two column format for ease of reference and ease of printing and use. We think that this is important. We would also still not list the audio access as well in any Quantcast statistics.

Why do we not use Alexa? We chose Quantcast based on its more objective estimates. Some time ago, Alexa ranked us in the top 75,000 but for some inexplicable reason dropped us to the 700,000s and kept us there. We had an actual increase in access at the time and we could only conclude that it was either a deliberate and false adjustment by the site or they have no substantive basis on which to base their estimates. Consequently, we do not use them or refer to them for any purpose and we chose Quantcast.

Note that hits do not form a proper basis for comparison as they sometimes fail and often exceed the access of page views by as much as 40%.

These are our timings for access. Note duration is between 4 and 9 minutes.      
Daily Activity

 

 

Country access
These are the country access stats. The reader will note that China is not picked up by Quantcast much at all. Perhaps that is because most Chinese access is direct ftp but there may be another cause we have not fully identified as yet. Note the hits from Israel and Brazil at position numbers 26 and 37 respectively: such large figures usually indicate a number of people downloading the entire site.  Note the country rankings are on people and not on hits. It happens often from many countries. Each week is different. We have seen massive downloads for Russia and Japan and the Ukraine and many others. US access per week is almost what Quantcast records per month in the html access. Global monthly html visitor access as per Quantcast is less than half actual visitors. Its record of visitors per country is only for html and thus underestimates numbers by country on site with other types of access. 

Most Active Countries

	Country	Hits	Visitors	% of Total Visitors	Bandwidth (KB)
1	United States	203,857	17,118	45.04%	0
2	China	7,408	2,534	6.67%	0
3	France	13,432	2,358	6.20%	0
4	Indonesia	7,992	1,642	4.32%	0
5	Canada	9,100	975	2.57%	0
6	Mexico	2,643	952	2.50%	0
7	Peru	1,538	883	2.32%	0
8	Unknown	4,851	717	1.89%	0
9	Russian Federation	5,478	691	1.82%	0
10	Australia	8,250	662	1.74%	0
11	Malaysia	3,005	620	1.63%	0
12	United Kingdom	4,872	556	1.46%	0
13	Poland	2,005	501	1.32%	0
14	Italy	2,071	467	1.23%	0
15	Colombia	1,190	448	1.18%	0
16	Chile	1,125	421	1.11%	0
17	Argentina	1,007	413	1.09%	0
18	Sweden	1,657	380	1.00%	0
19	Ukraine	2,640	341	0.90%	0
20	Spain	886	329	0.87%	0
21	Singapore	733	280	0.74%	0
22	South Africa	1,831	260	0.68%	0
23	Venezuela	3,999	246	0.65%	0
24	Germany	2,571	218	0.57%	0
25	Netherlands	2,547	213	0.56%	0
26	Israel	13,159	172	0.45%	0
27	Korea, Republic of	434	149	0.39%	0
28	Philippines	1,224	141	0.37%	0
29	Belgium	469	130	0.34%	0
30	Ireland	1,267	129	0.34%	0
31	India	987	127	0.33%	0
32	Puerto Rico	460	126	0.33%	0
33	Egypt	1,242	125	0.33%	0
34	Hungary	899	116	0.31%	0
35	Norway	1,844	115	0.30%	0
36	Dominican Republic	330	109	0.29%	0
37	Brazil	19,338	102	0.27%	0
38	Uruguay	182	91	0.24%	0
39	Switzerland	426	89	0.23%	0
40	Ecuador	338	88	0.23%	0
41	Latvia	495	78	0.21%	0
42	New Zealand	2,906	69	0.18%	0
43	Romania	491	69	0.18%	0
44	Saudi Arabia	309	68	0.18%	0
45	Panama	128	62	0.16%	0
46	Hong Kong	257	59	0.16%	0
47	Japan	215	49	0.13%	0
48	Jamaica	252	49	0.13%	0
49	Taiwan	353	48	0.13%	0
50	Costa Rica	104	46	0.12%	0
51	Thailand	190	46	0.12%	0
52	Bolivia	128	46	0.12%	0
53	Turkey	145	43	0.11%	0
54	Greece	268	42	0.11%	0
55	Finland	1,363	42	0.11%	0
56	Algeria	283	41	0.11%	0
57	El Salvador	203	41	0.11%	0
58	Cote d'Ivoire	231	37	0.10%	0
59	Guatemala	61	34	0.09%	0
60	Kazakhstan	104	32	0.08%	0
61	Kenya	677	31	0.08%	0
62	United Arab Emirates	220	31	0.08%	0
63	Bulgaria	370	31	0.08%	0
64	Nicaragua	102	30	0.08%	0
65	Tanzania	213	30	0.08%	0
66	Morocco	147	30	0.08%	0
67	Nigeria	168	29	0.08%	0
68	Denmark	170	28	0.07%	0
69	Czechia	88	27	0.07%	0
70	Ghana	150	24	0.06%	0
71	Cayman Islands	183	24	0.06%	0
72	Austria	202	23	0.06%	0
73	Croatia	216	23	0.06%	0
74	Gabon	267	22	0.06%	0
75	Honduras	55	22	0.06%	0
76	Bahamas	202	21	0.06%	0
77	Lebanon	85	21	0.06%	0
78	Serbia	272	21	0.06%	0
79	Haiti	91	21	0.06%	0
80	Cameroon	274	20	0.05%	0
81	Belarus	64	19	0.05%	0
82	Portugal	417	19	0.05%	0
83	Tunisia	53	16	0.04%	0
84	Slovakia	188	15	0.04%	0
85	Kuwait	80	14	0.04%	0
86	Senegal	78	14	0.04%	0
87	Pakistan	136	14	0.04%	0
88	Paraguay	26	14	0.04%	0
89	Trinidad and Tobago	73	13	0.03%	0
90	Benin	47	13	0.03%	0
91	Barbados	46	11	0.03%	0
92	Estonia	51	10	0.03%	0
93	Luxembourg	27	10	0.03%	0
94	Brunei Darussalam	15	10	0.03%	0
95	Congo, Democratic People's Republic	89	9	0.02%	0
96	Uganda	216	9	0.02%	0
97	Palestinian Territory	37	9	0.02%	0
98	Syria	26	9	0.02%	0
99	Madagascar	77	9	0.02%	0
100	Lithuania	52	9	0.02%	0
101	Jordan	64	9	0.02%	0
102	Iran	81	8	0.02%	0
103	French Polynesia	32	8	0.02%	0
104	Mauritius	58	8	0.02%	0
105	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	21	7	0.02%	0
106	Vietnam	8	7	0.02%	0
107	Slovenia	104	7	0.02%	0
108	Yemen	62	6	0.02%	0
109	Bahrain	36	6	0.02%	0
110	Moldova	30	6	0.02%	0
111	Burundi	31	5	0.01%	0
112	Azerbaijan	10	5	0.01%	0
113	Zimbabwe	64	5	0.01%	0
114	Cyprus	19	5	0.01%	0
115	Lybia	23	5	0.01%	0
116	Malta	39	5	0.01%	0
117	Uzbekistan	56	5	0.01%	0
118	Bangladesh	20	4	0.01%	0
119	Armenia	8	4	0.01%	0
120	Burkina Faso	8	4	0.01%	0
121	Guam	25	4	0.01%	0
122	Togo	10	4	0.01%	0
123	Oman	24	4	0.01%	0
124	Zambia	58	4	0.01%	0
125	Bosnia and Herzegovina	52	4	0.01%	0
126	Netherlands Antilles	38	4	0.01%	0
127	New Caledonia	18	4	0.01%	0
128	Sudan	8	4	0.01%	0
129	Ethiopia	10	3	0.01%	0
130	Antigua and Barbuda	13	3	0.01%	0
131	Bermuda	31	3	0.01%	0
132	Georgia	11	3	0.01%	0
133	Qatar	7	3	0.01%	0
134	Guyana	13	3	0.01%	0
135	Monaco	5	3	0.01%	0
136	Chad	4	2	0.01%	0
137	Tajikistan	6	2	0.01%	0
138	Aruba	36	2	0.01%	0
139	Swaziland	4	2	0.01%	0
140	Sri Lanka	7	2	0.01%	0
141	Dominica	7	2	0.01%	0
142	Myanmar	83	2	0.01%	0
143	Macau	9	2	0.01%	0
144	Rwanda	7	2	0.01%	0
145	Vanuatu	5	2	0.01%	0
146	Iceland	26	2	0.01%	0
147	Samoa	2	1	0.00%	0
148	Afghanistan	15	1	0.00%	0
149	Albania	4	1	0.00%	0
150	Anguilla	5	1	0.00%	0
151	Iraq	26	1	0.00%	0
152	Fiji	47	1	0.00%	0
153	Central African Republic	2	1	0.00%	0
154	Saint Kitts and Nevis	3	1	0.00%	0
155	Equatorial Guinea	3	1	0.00%	0
156	Guadeloupe	3	1	0.00%	0
157	Faroe Islands	4	1	0.00%	0
158	Grenada	3	1	0.00%	0
159	Mongolia	1	1	0.00%	0
160	Reunion Island	3	1	0.00%	0
161	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	3	1	0.00%	0
162	Angola	3	1	0.00%	0
163	Sierra Leone	4	1	0.00%	0
164	Mozambique	4	1	0.00%	0
165	Malawi	3	1	0.00%	0
166	Nepal	3	1	0.00%	0
167	Botswana	3	1	0.00%	0
	Total	355,158	38,005	100.00%	0

We can now see that there are explanations for the variations in statistics and that we have good reasons for doing what we are doing. As our translations increase we will see our access change its demographics, and as technology becomes more widespread, individual access will increase in developing countries.

Many developing countries have poor access to computers and the Internet. Access is from cyber cafes and the wages are too low to permit lengthy access. Papers must be readily available and quickly downloaded and printed. These countries will not be able to afford the infrastructure and paid staff of a Western system for some time to come. They have to be trained and prepared.  CCG operations are designed to cater for the needs and capacity of the world and not just the West.

What we do know is that in developing countries and in the developed countries papers are downloaded and used for sermons in groups and house churches. One paper downloaded in Africa or South America or Asia could reach a hundred or more people and does. Our African ministry prints papers for large numbers of people and they do not appear on the stats as a rule. Thus thousands are not on the weekly stats at all.

The audios are useful for those who can access them, both in adult and children’s format.

The Children’s Bible Study papers provide not only an educational forum for children but also a language-training medium for all people and especially for teaching English, or other languages, as a second language.

Please pray that we are able to develop the translations and grow all over the world.

Pray we are able to help each other and to make the most of our opportunities.

We are steadily growing and spreading to the nations on an ever-increasing basis. The work started in the South and has been increasing as it moves to the North. At present there are more of us in the Southern Hemisphere than in the Northern Hemisphere but that is changing and will change significantly in the not too distant future. God said He would work that way and He is doing so.

Wade Cox
Coordinator General