New research from Nielsen/NetRatings shows that by November 2005 the sector had more than doubled in popularity.
The growth was signalled by eBay's decision in September 2005 to buy online telephone service Skype for $4bn. While several players offer online telephone services - including Google, AOL and Yahoo - the report cites Skype as responsible for the sector's massive 113% growth over the past year.
NetRatings' unique audience figure for the sector was 854,643 in 2005 compared to 401,422 in 2004.
"Skype's huge global base means early adopters were using it very early on to communicate with others around the world with the same technology," says Alex Burmaster, internet analyst at Nielsen.
"Ease of use and word of mouth means Skype has become the main peer-to-peer telephone software in the mind of many consumers."
Career management websites have also propelled their audiences over the past year, with job boards such as Monster and AOL doubling the growth of the sector.
In November 2004, NetRatings' unique UK audience for job boards was 1,728,108. In 2005,this figure was 3,471,329 - an increase of 101%.
"Better candidate tracking, less administration and faster turnaround has accelerated job recruitment migration from newspapers," said David Hurst of online recruitment magazine, Onrec.
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