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The number of Web users worldwide passed the 275 million mark in Feb., up 37% since September. Despite the U.S.-centric approach by many Web companies, North America now accounts for a minority of Web users, 49% of the total, down from 58% in September. The Computer Industry Almanac projects 490 million people world-wide will have Internet access by 2002. International Data Corp. expects an Internet population of 502 million by 2003. Country-by-country breakouts are available on the NUA Web www.nua.ie
Web Users (U.S.)
At year-end 1999, Millward Brown Intelliquest estimates that 92.5 million U.S. adults age 16 or older (44% of total) use the Internet, an increase of 19.5 million (27%) in the last 15 months (see table 8).
Mediamark Research (MRI) found a similar total, estimating 98.1 million U.S. users in Q3 1999 (see table 9). More than 74 million (76% of all users) had used the Internet in the past 30 days.
Worth Remembering #2
30% of Net users buy online
Mediamark found that more than three-quarters (76%) of those with Internet access actually used the Internet within the past 30 days. Of those recent users, nearly three-quarters accessed the Internet only from home only or home and work.
Worth Remembering #3
three-quarters of those with Net access
used it in previous month
Web Traffic
Three companies track Web traffic. Media Metrix (which merged with Relevant Knowledge in 1998) is the granddaddy of the business, projecting total Web usage from its panel of 40,000 users. Another well-known tracking firm is Nielsen/ NetRatings and the newest entrant is PC Data.
PayPal (now part of X.com) was the top newcomer in February among 21,000 Web sites tracked by Media Metrix. PayPal debuted on the list with 1.3 million unique visitors (minimum of 500,000 required to make the list).
American Online is currently the number one Web destination with many of its 22 million members launched onto AOL.com prior to surfing the Web. Table 10 reports traffic by Web company, aggregating all the company’s Web sites into one single number (e.g., Microsoft includes microsoft.com, msn.com, hotmail.com, etc.). Table 11 looks at the most trafficked single domain names. None of the top sites are purely finance related, though many provide financial content within the context of their overall news and information. For example, Yahoo! Finance and Microsoft MoneyCentral. Next month, we’ll look exclusively at financial Web sites.
Table 5
Top 25 Web Addresses from Media Metrix
millions of unique visitors in Feb. 2000
| Rank/Web Site |
Visitors |
Reach1 |
Nov 98 Rank |
| 1. yahoo.com |
44.9 |
60% |
2 |
| 2. msn.com |
35.9 |
48% |
3 |
| 3. aol.com |
31.9 |
43% |
1 |
| 4. lycos.com |
26.9 |
36% |
7 |
| 5. microsoft.com |
25.7 |
34% |
8 |
| 6. netscape.com |
22.3 |
30% |
5 |
| 7. go.com |
19.7 |
26% |
<25 |
| 8. hotmail.com |
17.1 |
23% |
13 |
| 9. bluemountainarts.com |
16.7 |
22% |
14 |
| 10. excite.com |
15.5 |
21% |
6 |
| 11. amazon.com |
13.6 |
18% |
9 |
| 12. altavista search2 |
12.0 |
16% |
10 |
| 13. ebay.com |
11.7 |
16% |
<25 |
| 14. tripod.com |
11.3 |
15% |
11 |
| 15. real.com |
10.9 |
15% |
17 |
| 16. angelfire.com |
11.1 |
15% |
12 |
| 17. snap.com |
10.8 |
14% |
20 |
| 18. zdnet |
9.6 |
13% |
18 |
| 19. about.com |
9.3 |
12% |
<25 |
| 20. looksmart.com |
8.8 |
12% |
<25 |
| 21. msnbc.com |
8.6 |
12% |
25 |
| 22. cnet.com |
8.3 |
11% |
<25 |
| 23. infospace.com |
8.1 |
11% |
<25 |
| 24. xoom.com |
7.9 |
11% |
15 |
| 25. askjeeves.com |
7.7 |
10% |
<25 |
| Total |
74.6 |
100% |
n/a |
Source: Media Metrix, 2/00,
www.mediametrix.com , Based on usage of 40,000 Web users. *Reach=% of
74.6 million total users that visited the site from home or work at least
once during Feb.
1Includes altavista.com and altavista.digital.com
Table 6
Top 10 Home Destinations from Nielsen
percent of Web users visiting these companies in Feb. 2000
| Property |
Reach from Home* |
| 1. AOL |
60.3% |
| 2. Yahoo |
56.0% |
| 3. MSN |
39.6% |
| 4. Excite @ Home |
32.6% |
| 5. Lycos Network |
30.5% |
| 6. GO Network |
23.0% |
| 7. Microsoft |
20.5% |
| 8. Time Warner |
17.3% |
| 9. NBC Internet |
17.0% |
| 10. Amazon |
14.6% |
Source: NetRatings, 2/00, www.netratings.com
*Reach = percentage of 4,000 Internet users 18 years or older accessing the site from home during the Nov. (does not include AOL users with 16-bit browsers)
Table 7
1999 Holiday Spending by Categoryfrom Oct. 31, 1999 to Jan. 2, 2000
| Category |
Dollars (millions) |
% of total |
| Computer hardware |
$1,206 |
21.8% |
| Toys |
$676 |
12.2% |
| Travel |
$640 |
11.6% |
| Software |
$475 |
8.6% |
| Electronics |
$413 |
7.5% |
| Apparel |
$373 |
6.7% |
| Music |
$253 |
4.6% |
| Books |
$248 |
4.5% |
| Videos/DVD |
$209 |
3.8% |
| Home & Garden |
$192 |
3.5% |
| Sporting Goods |
$153 |
2.8% |
| Health & Beauty |
$145 |
2.6% |
| Food & Groceries |
$126 |
2.3% |
| Autos |
$114 |
2.0% |
| Entertainment |
$112 |
1.9% |
| Flowers, cCards |
$106 |
1.9% |
| Pet Supplies |
$93 |
1.7% |
| Total |
$5,532 |
100% |
Source: PC Data, 1/00, www.pcdataonline.com
Table 8
Time Spent Using the Web in February
| Metrics (per user) |
Feb 00 |
Jan 00 |
Dec 99 |
Nov 99 |
| total time online (hours) |
9.32 |
9.45 |
8.29 |
8.12 |
| number of sessions |
18 |
18 |
17 |
16 |
| average time per session (minutes) |
31.0 |
30.8 |
29.4 |
29.6 |
| average time per page (seconds) |
53 |
54 |
55 |
56 |
| page views per month |
628 |
634 |
548 |
521 |
| Memo |
|
|
|
|
| click rate for top banners |
3.6% |
4.7% |
4.6% |
4.5% |
| active Internet users (millions) |
76.5 |
77.0 |
74.1 |
74.0 |
| total universe with access (millions) |
123 |
123 |
119 |
118 |
Source: NetRatings, 11/99 through 2/00, www.netratings.com based on a panel of 38,000 Internet users age 18 or older
PC & Online Usage
Table 9
The Nifty Fifty (U.S.)
percent of total universe (adults)
- 69% of adults use a PC either at home or work
- 81% of PC users are online
- 56% of all adults are online either at work or at home
- 51% of all adults use a PC at home
-
Source: Harris Interactive telephone survey of more than 2,000 adults in Dec. 1999
There is something powerful about crossing the 50% threshold for any product. If you remember nothing else from this report, make sure to commit these two numbers to memory (in round numbers): 70% of adults use a PC and 80% of those are online (U. S. numbers). See table 16 for trend data.
Worth Remembering #4
70% of (U.S.) adults use a PC, and 80% of those are online (56% penetration…a majority!)
Table 10
PC & Online Penetration (U.S.)
percent of adults that own a PC
|
Metric |
Dec. 1999 |
Dec. 1997 |
% Increase |
Sept. 1995 |
| % adults online |
56% |
35% |
60% |
9% |
| -at home |
46% |
22% |
110% |
ina |
| -at work |
37% |
22% |
68% |
ina |
| -other |
21% |
ina |
ina |
ina |
| % adults using a PC |
69% |
62% |
16% |
50% |
| -at home |
51% |
39% |
31% |
ina |
| -at work |
47% |
41% |
15% |
ina |
| -other |
26% |
23% |
13% |
ina |
| adults online as percent of adult PC users |
81% |
56% |
45% |
18% |
Source: Harris Interactive, telephone survey of more than 2,000, 12/99
Table 11
Total Population vs. Web User Population (U.S.)
|
Recent Web Users |
All Adults |
Index |
|
| Total |
78.2 mil |
198.4 mil |
39 |
| Male |
51% |
48% |
106 |
| Female |
49% |
52% |
95 |
| Age | |||
| 18-24 |
17% |
13% |
131 |
| 25-34 |
24% |
20% |
119 |
| 35-44 |
28% |
23% |
122 |
| 45-54 |
20% |
17% |
119 |
| 55-64 |
8% |
11% |
71 |
| 65+ |
3% |
16% |
21 |
| Median |
38.5 years |
42.6years |
90 |
| Income | |||
| $150,000 or more |
7% |
4% |
195 |
| $100,000 - $149,000 |
15% |
8% |
184 |
| $75,000 - $99,999 |
18% |
11% |
164 |
| $50,000 - $74,999 |
26% |
21% |
128 |
| $30,000 - $49,999 |
20% |
23% |
84 |
| $20,000 - $29,999 |
7% |
13% |
50 |
| less than $20,000 |
7% |
20% |
34 |
| Median |
$65,800 |
$44,000 |
149 |
| Education | |||
| Postgraduate |
14% |
7% |
193 |
| Bachelor’s degree |
26% |
15% |
171 |
| Attended college |
35% |
26% |
134 |
| High school grad |
21% |
34% |
62 |
| Did not graduate H.S. |
4% |
18% |
22 |
| Occupation | |||
| Professional, manager |
37% |
20% |
184 |
| Technical, clerical, sales |
26% |
19% |
140 |
| Craft, precision production |
6% |
7% |
85 |
| Other |
13% |
19% |
68 |
| Not employed, retired |
18% |
35% |
50 |
Source: Mediamark Research, fall 1999
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