Global Internet Universe Grows By 6.8 Million

GLOBAL INTERNET UNIVERSE GROWS BY 6.8 MILLION
INDIVIDUALS TO 379 MILLION IN MARCH: NIELSEN//NETRATINGS

South Korea still tops the Web usage charts globally

Australians the “stickiest” web surfers in the world

Auckland, New Zealand – 3 May, 2001 – The universe of individuals worldwide with Internet access from home grew by nearly seven million people in March 2001 to a total of 379 million people, according to the Nielsen//NetRatings Global Internet Index. Active Internet usage rebounded from a February drop, growing nearly 4% to 211 million people.

Total Internet usage also increased in March, from the number of sessions and unique sites visited to the time spent online per month, due in part to the longer month.

Asia Pacific shows most dynamic Internet usage
“Asia Pacific countries are showing the most dynamic Internet usage patterns in the world in terms of high levels of usage, click rates on ad banners, and duration of visits,” said Brian Milnes, Managing Director Pacific, ACNielsen eRatings.com.

Still the most active users of the Internet in the world, South Koreans led the 21 markets measured by the Nielsen//NetRatings Global Index in terms of page views for March. South Korean surfers logged an average 2,164 page views over the month, or nearly 92 pages during each surfing session. By contrast, South Koreans spent the least amount of time of all surfers viewing each page, spending a mere 28 seconds on a page before moving on.

“South Koreans are the consummate surfers,” Milnes added, “They’re studying remarkably high numbers of pages during each session and over the month, but they’re barely pausing on each page.

“On a more encouraging note for advertisers looking to target this audience, South Koreans, along with surfers in Hong Kong, had the highest click rate for ad banners, meaning that banners are still a relatively effective way to catch these consumers’ attention as they breeze through web pages.

“Interestingly, the average click rate for top banners increased globally in March, a worthwhile footnote to the recent debates over the effectiveness of online advertising.”

Australian Internet users were the “stickiest” in the world in March, meaning they had the longest page view duration of almost 1 minute per page.

“Kiwi surfers were right on their heels at 53 seconds per page,” adds Milnes. “That’s good news for local advertisers and content sites.”

In Taiwan, a three-day Internet cable cut in early March caused a decline in the time spent online, number of sessions and number of page views for the month. However, Taiwan still ranked highly in terms of page views for the month and ranked third in terms of page views per surfing session.

eCommerce face-off emerges globally
Global Index figures for March also showed a brewing eCommerce battle between eBay and Amazon.com, as eBay’s unique audience grew by nearly four million people to a total of more than 22 million people – a spike that bumped eBay from #15 in terms of unique audience in February to #11 in March. At the same time, Amazon.com’s unique audience ranking dropped two places to #12 in March.

“Though their unique audiences are neck and neck at just over 22 million people, eBay dominates Amazon.com in terms of pages viewed and time per person on the site,” Milnes said. “With more than 1.3 billion page views in March and an average of an hour and a half spent on the site, eBay’s stickiness raises the bar for the industry.”
Table 1: Nielsen//NetRatings Global Internet Index
Average page views per month at home, March 2001: Asia Pacific region compared to US and global average

Rank
(Number of Page Views Per Month) Country Number of Page Views Per Month Number of Page Views Per Surfing Session Duration of a Page Viewed Average Click Rate for Top Banners
1 South Korea 2164 92 0:00:28 0.62
2 Hong Kong 1123 63 0:00:37 0.69
4 Japan* 788 52 0:00:35 0.37
Global Average 774 43 0:00:47 0.41
6 Singapore 699 55 0:00:37 0.24
7 US 678 35 0:00:54 0.36
9 Taiwan 618 55 0:00:37 0.50
16 Australia 512 39 0:00:54 0.27
20 New Zealand 414 30 0:00:53 0.23
*Japan data from February 2001
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings

Table 2: Nielsen//NetRatings Global Internet Index
Average usage at-home, March 2001: all countries

Current Month Last Month % Change
Number of Countries in Global Index 21 21
Number of Sessions per Month 17 16 7.01
Number of Unique Sites Visited 15 14 4.70
Page Views per Month 774 711 8.76
Page Views per Surfing Session 43 43 0.29
Time Spent per Month 9:28:46 8:50:50 7.14
Time Spent During Surfing Session 0:31:51 0:32:23 -1.63
Duration of a Page viewed 0:00:47 0:00:47 -1.43
Average Click Rate for Top Banners 0.41 0.40 2.72
Internet Audience Total Installed Sample 163,495 164,673 -0.72
Active Internet Universe 211,455,896 203,523,445 3.90
Current Internet Universe Estimate 378,828,371 371,983,034 1.84

About Nielsen//NetRatings
Through strategic partnerships between NetRatings, Nielsen Media Research and ACNielsen, the Nielsen//NetRatings audience measurement service collects real-time data from more than 220,000 individuals with access to the Internet around the world. The U.S. panel sample currently consists of 62,000 individuals with Internet access at home and 8,000 individuals with Internet access at work. International panels are under development with over 150,000 individuals with access at home currently being measured in 21 countries, representing over 88% of global Internet browser activity.

Nielsen//NetRatings uses unique technology capable of measuring both Internet use and advertising to provide the most timely, accurate and comprehensive Internet usage data and advertising information in the global marketplace. Nielsen//NetRatings tracks the entire spectrum of Internet user behaviour, leveraging proprietary data-collection technology from NetRatings, Nielsen Media Research's 50 years of expertise in research and audience measurement, and ACNielsen’s international leadership in offering market research information covering more than 100 countries. For more information, please visit www.nielsen-netratings.com.

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