The reason for this revision is that Brian Reid's raw arbitron figures contain a major (fortunately reversible) statistical error that severely undercounts 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.
Explanations of the figures are in a companion posting by Brian Reid.
+-- 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 1234723 4260 91% 50 0.8 21% 0.00 6.81% news.announce.newusers 2 994445 3431 57% 8464 10.7 26% 0.00 5.49% alt.sex 3 626926 2163 49% 15864 761.2 13% 0.38 3.46% alt.binaries.pictures.erotica 4 601420 2075 82% 57 0.1 0% 0.00 3.32% rec.humor.funny 5 591566 2041 51% 5345 38.5 8% 0.02 3.26% alt.sex.stories 6 543452 1875 88% 2266 0.6 99% 0.00 3.00% news.answers 7 504903 1742 44% 6988 156.3 4% 0.10 2.79% alt.binaries.pictures.supermodels 8 475919 1642 88% 3 0 67% 0.00 2.63% news.announce.important 9 453022 1563 87% 4757 6 3% 0.00 2.50% news.newusers.questions 10 450703 1555 81% 23553 33.6 28% 0.02 2.49% misc.jobs.offered 11 436211 1505 59% 5047 6.9 3% 0.00 2.41% alt.tv.simpsons 12 416792 1438 54% 4415 10.3 11% 0.01 2.30% alt.sex.bondage 13 405198 1398 84% 1820 3 21% 0.00 2.24% comp.unix.questions 14 398532 1375 79% 4868 14.1 10% 0.01 2.20% rec.humor 15 396503 1368 84% 4698 7 15% 0.01 2.19% comp.lang.c 16 370127 1277 65% 1522 2.5 18% 0.00 2.04% alt.bbs 17 369258 1274 43% 8709 253.4 36% 0.22 2.04% alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.female 18 352157 1215 74% 92 0.3 22% 0.00 1.94% rec.arts.movies.reviews 19 350708 1210 72% 8127 11 21% 0.01 1.94% rec.arts.startrek.current 20 341723 1179 35% 1258 5.6 26% 0.01 1.89% alt.sex.voyeurism 21 340853 1176 39% 2643 62.8 26% 0.06 1.88% alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.blondes 22 333607 1151 54% 4791 162.3 8% 0.15 1.84% alt.binaries.pictures.misc 23 331578 1144 48% 850 1.3 31% 0.00 1.83% alt.sex.stories.d 24 330129 1139 56% 12273 14.1 10% 0.01 1.82% alt.music.alternative 25 322593 1113 58% 5278 7.1 10% 0.01 1.78% alt.personals 26 316507 1092 37% 1369 6.7 28% 0.01 1.75% alt.sex.exhibitionism 27 313028 1080 87% 5881 9.3 25% 0.01 1.73% news.groups 28 312739 1079 49% 9350 20.6 15% 0.02 1.73% alt.2600 29 312739 1079 74% 52 0.2 2% 0.00 1.73% rec.arts.startrek.info 30 312449 1078 50% 5028 7.5 15% 0.01 1.72% alt.sex.movies 31 312159 1077 88% 55 2.4 0% 0.00 1.72% news.lists 32 309261 1067 32% 4362 133.3 7% 0.14 1.71% alt.binaries.pictures.celebrities 33 298536 1030 65% 3 0 67% 0.00 1.65% rec.arts.erotica 34 294768 1017 60% 703 1.3 21% 0.00 1.63% alt.bbs.lists 35 293319 1012 41% 4732 83.5 50% 0.09 1.62% alt.sex.pictures 36 293029 1011 45% 2082 64.2 9% 0.07 1.62% alt.binaries.pictures.tasteless 37 291580 1006 71% 3440 4.5 47% 0.00 1.61% rec.arts.startrek.misc 38 291001 1004 83% 6025 8 22% 0.01 1.61% comp.lang.c++ 39 288102 994 45% - - - - 1.59% alt.homosexuality 40 286653 989 83% 863 1.9 0% 0.00 1.58% comp.dcom.telecom