The reason for this revision is that Brian Reid's raw arbitron figures contain a major (fortunately reversible) statistical error that severely underestimates the readership of most groups. I have excluded clearly local/regional hierarchies from this revised list because they suffer from an even more egregarious sampling error that radically overestimates their worldwide readership. They can be found in a companion posting to this one.
+-- 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 (megabytes 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 51882 179 46% 26483 107.5 4% 0.65 0.29% rec.games.trading-cards.marketplace 2 450703 1555 81% 23553 33.6 28% 0.02 2.49% misc.jobs.offered 3 285204 984 56% 16106 16.9 64% 0.02 1.57% alt.fan.rush-limbaugh 4 626926 2163 49% 15864 761.2 13% 0.38 3.46% alt.binaries.pictures.erotica 5 90430 312 68% 14802 24.5 2% 0.09 0.50% rec.sport.basketball.college 6 84344 291 62% 12391 64.8 3% 0.24 0.47% alt.test 7 330129 1139 56% 12273 14.1 10% 0.01 1.82% alt.music.alternative 8 53331 184 54% 12123 26.8 6% 0.16 0.29% alt.religion.scientology 9 168398 581 69% 12011 14.7 63% 0.03 0.93% talk.politics.misc 10 247814 855 78% 11551 15.8 28% 0.02 1.37% misc.jobs.contract 11 51592 178 46% 11405 4.6 85% 0.03 0.28% alt.politics.usa.republican 12 264625 913 75% 11323 19 7% 0.02 1.46% rec.arts.movies 13 115647 399 76% 10090 11.3 45% 0.03 0.64% comp.os.os2.advocacy 14 130718 451 68% 9879 20.8 26% 0.05 0.72% talk.politics.guns 15 235061 811 54% 9354 5.4 85% 0.01 1.30% alt.politics.clinton 16 312739 1079 49% 9350 20.6 15% 0.02 1.73% alt.2600 17 100575 347 59% 9331 16.4 2% 0.05 0.56% rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5 18 104053 359 74% 9293 11.9 1% 0.04 0.57% rec.music.gdead 19 118545 409 69% 9175 15.2 18% 0.04 0.65% rec.arts.sf.starwars 20 369258 1274 43% 8709 253.4 36% 0.22 2.04% alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.female 21 92459 319 67% 8502 13.3 12% 0.05 0.51% rec.arts.comics.misc 22 994445 3431 57% 8464 10.7 26% 0.00 5.49% alt.sex 23 139703 482 46% 8316 12.1 3% 0.03 0.77% alt.tv.x-files 24 350708 1210 72% 8127 11 21% 0.01 1.94% rec.arts.startrek.current 25 62606 216 55% 7753 11 3% 0.06 0.35% alt.gothic 26 114487 395 72% 7602 11.2 0% 0.03 0.63% rec.guns 27 124922 431 74% 7498 11.3 4% 0.03 0.69% rec.motorcycles 28 202889 700 76% 7391 10.3 2% 0.02 1.12% rec.food.cooking 29 189556 654 81% 7369 9.4 14% 0.02 1.05% comp.sys.mac.hardware 30 158253 546 80% 7360 10.1 21% 0.02 0.87% comp.os.os2.misc 31 201729 696 64% 7288 10 20% 0.02 1.11% alt.folklore.urban 32 156224 539 61% 7275 8.5 46% 0.02 0.86% alt.flame 33 128110 442 77% 7231 6.5 60% 0.02 0.71% comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy 34 92749 320 68% 7208 22 6% 0.07 0.51% soc.culture.vietnamese 35 183759 634 70% 7204 11.2 7% 0.02 1.01% comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action 36 112748 389 71% 7193 9.6 12% 0.03 0.62% comp.os.ms-windows.nt.misc 37 192165 663 60% 7087 11.3 34% 0.02 1.06% alt.atheism 38 154485 533 73% 7039 12.2 5% 0.02 0.85% rec.arts.anime 39 179412 619 70% 7038 10.7 11% 0.02 0.99% soc.motss 40 504903 1742 44% 6988 156.3 4% 0.10 2.79% alt.binaries.pictures.supermodels