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Two-Thirds of Active U.S. Web Population Using Broadband, up 28 Percent Year-Over-Year to an All-Time High, According to Nielsen//NetRatings
15 March 2006 Nielsen//NetRatings, a global leader in Internet media and market research, announced today that the number of active broadband users from home increased 28 percent year-over-year, from 74.3 million in February 2005 to 95.5 million in February 2006. Broadband composition among the U.S. active online population has seen vigorous growth during the past three years, increasing at least ten percentage points annually and hitting an all-time high of 68 percent for active Internet users in February 2006.
From February 2003 to February 2004, broadband composition grew twelve percentage points, from 33 percent to 45 percent (see Table 1). In February 2005, it increased another ten percentage points to 55 percent. This year, February saw broadband composition reach an all-time high of 68 percent, increasing an impressive 13 percentage points over the previous February.
Overall Internet penetration in the U.S. has stabilized over the past few years, reaching 74 percent at home in February 2006.
As broadband penetration increases, so does the average PC time spent per person. With fast connections to Web sites for online photos, audio and video files, online visitors are devoting more time to their computers. Since February 2003, the average PC time per person among active Web users has increased approximately five hours from 25 and a half hours a month to 30 and a half hours a month.
"The correlated growth in average PC time per person is the result of broadband users' greater satisfaction with their online experience," said Jon Gibs, senior director of media, Nielsen//NetRatings. "The 'always on' nature of a broadband connection allows the Internet to become more entrenched in consumers' lives. In broadband consumers' minds, activities such as checking account balances, downloading music, watching streaming video and checking email become just another application of the PC rather than a separate activity that happens when they log on to the Internet."
Table 1: Growth in Broadband Composition and PC Time among Active Internet Universe (U.S., Home Only)
____________________________________________________________________
U.S. Broadband PC Time
Year Composition (%) Per Person (hh:mm:ss)
____________________________________________________________________
Feb-03 33 25:33:24
____________________________________________________________________
Feb-04 45 27:52:29
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Feb-05 55 27:49:58
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Feb-06 68 30:35:54
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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, March 2006
Note: Broadband data is based on individual, active Internet users 2 years and older.
Video Sharing Sites Enjoy Growing Popularity
With increased broadband penetration, a growing trend is accessing streaming media online at video sharing sites. MSN Video garnered 9.3 million unique visitors in February 2006, growing 44 percent over the previous year (see Table 2). YouTube and Google Video grew from relative obscurity in February 2005 to substantial players in February 2006, drawing 9.0 million and 6.2 million unique visitors, respectively. iFilm and Yahoo's video search saw triple digit year-over-year growth in their visitation, drawing 4.3 million and 3.8 million unique visitors, respectively.
"Video sites have successfully tapped into the use of viral campaigns, capitalizing on consumers' impulse to share funny clips with their friends," said Gibs. "Among these sites, it is not uncommon to see dramatic spikes in weekly Web traffic due to a popular online video that has been sent from person to person. Television networks should be looking to embrace, rather than pull away from these sites, in order to generate buzz for their broadcast programming."
Table 2: Web Traffic to Video Sites, February 2006 (U.S., Home and Work)
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Video Site Unique Audience (000) Year Over Year Percent Change
____________________________________________________________________
MSN Video 9,279 44%
____________________________________________________________________
YouTube 9,045 NA
____________________________________________________________________
Google Video 6,246 NA
____________________________________________________________________
iFILM 4,336 102%
____________________________________________________________________
video.search.yahoo.com 3,774 148%
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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, March 2006
Note: This list is a sample of popular video sites and is not meant to be exhaustive.
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Nielsen//NetRatings reports February 2006 data for the Top Sites by Parent Company and Top Brands. In addition, Nielsen//NetRatings reveals the Top Advertisers by Company for February 2006.
Nielsen//NetRatings Top 10 Web Sites by Parent Company and Top 10 Web Sites By Brand, February 2006
Table 1. Top 10 Parent Companies, Table 2. Top 10 Brands,
Combined Home & Work Combined Home & Work
______________________________________ ________________________________
Unique Time Per Unique Time Per
Audience Person Audience Person
Parent (000) (hh:mm:ss) Brand (000) (hh:mm:ss)
______________________________________ ________________________________
1. Microsoft 112,388 2:04:09 1. Yahoo! 102,165 3:10:46
______________________________________ ________________________________
2. Yahoo! 102,826 3:10:12 2. Microsoft 95,555 0:46:13
______________________________________ ________________________________
3. Time Warner 100,015 4:50:21 3. MSN 91,622 1:43:51
______________________________________ ________________________________
4. Google 90,490 0:54:31 4. Google 89,059 0:53:11
______________________________________ ________________________________
5. eBay 59,120 1:49:13 5. AOL 73,289 6:00:13
______________________________________ ________________________________
6. InterActiveCorp 55,906 0:25:58 6. eBay 52,102 1:53:49
______________________________________ ________________________________
7. News Corp. Online 52,767 1:23:37 7. Amazon 38,994 0:21:14
______________________________________ ________________________________
8. Amazon 45,693 0:23:59 8. MapQuest 36,721 0:13:43
______________________________________ ________________________________
9. Walt Disney 9. Ask Jeeves
Internet Group 41,249 0:34:05 Network 34,259 0:25:29
______________________________________ ________________________________
10. New York
Times Company 38,559 0:15:37 10. Apple 34,211 1:04:13
______________________________________ ________________________________
Example: The data indicates that 38.6 million home and work Internet users visited at least one of the New York Times Company-owned sites or launched a New York Times Company-owned application during the month, and each person spent, on average, a total of 15 minutes and 37 seconds at one or more of their sites or applications.
A parent company is defined as a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs owned by a single entity. A brand is defined as a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs that has a consistent collection of branded content. Reach is a measure of the unduplicated audience that visits a property. The data is expressed as the percentage of the total universe of Internet users who logged onto the Internet at least once during the reporting period.
Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance Top 10 Advertisers, February 2006
Top advertisers, ranked by estimated spending, are based on data from AdRelevance, Nielsen//NetRatings' advertising research service. An impression is counted as the number of times an ad is rendered for viewing.
Top 10 Advertisers by Estimated Spending
____________________________________________________________________
Total Estimated
Advertiser Spending Impressions (000)
____________________________________________________________________
1. Vonage Holdings Corp $23,022,500 9,473,806
____________________________________________________________________
2. Netflix, Inc. $16,669,900 6,961,163
____________________________________________________________________
3. GUS Plc $16,144,200 9,264,565
____________________________________________________________________
4. LowerMyBills.com, Inc. $12,075,000 2,439,032
____________________________________________________________________
5. Verizon Communications, Inc. $11,259,500 3,211,531
____________________________________________________________________
6. United Online, Inc. $10,219,300 3,468,026
____________________________________________________________________
7. General Motors Corporation $9,580,300 1,600,088
____________________________________________________________________
8. QuinStreet $9,389,800 1,880,501
____________________________________________________________________
9. NexTag.com $8,912,100 2,840,852
____________________________________________________________________
10. Scottrade, Inc. $8,893,200 1,789,189
____________________________________________________________________
Estimated spending reflects CPM-based advertising online, and excludes search-based advertising, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, partnership advertising, advertorials, promotions and email. Impressions reported exclude house ads, which are ads that run on an advertiser's own or related property and co-branding relationships.
Example: An estimated 1.8 billion Scottrade, Inc. ads were rendered for viewing at the cost of approximately $8.9 million during the surfing period.
About Nielsen//NetRatings
NetRatings, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTRT) delivers leading Internet media and market research solutions, marketed globally under the Nielsen//NetRatings brand. With high quality, technology-driven products and services, Nielsen//NetRatings is the global standard for Internet audience measurement and premier source for online advertising intelligence, enabling clients to make informed business decisions regarding their Internet and digital strategies. The Nielsen//NetRatings portfolio includes panel-based and site-centric Internet audience measurement services, online advertising intelligence, user lifestyle and demographic data, e-commerce and transaction metrics, and custom data, research and analysis. For more information, please visit http://www.nielsen-netratings.com.
NetRatings, Inc.
Suzy Bausch (408) 941-2965
Jennifer Fan (408) 941-2951
Source: prnewswire
All trademarks and copyrighted information contained herein are the property of their respective owners.
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