Broadband Access Grows 59 Percent, While Narrowband Use Declines, According to Nielsen//NetRatings

Wednesday January 15, 9:32 am ET
Senior Surfers Record Fastest Growing Increase in High-Speed Access


NEW YORK, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Nielsen//NetRatings, the global standard for digital media measurement and analysis, today reports that broadband access at home continues to post double-digit growth with a 59 percent year-over-year increase, marking more than 33.6 million Internet users who accessed the Web via high-speed in December 2002 (see Table 1).
Broadband users also spent more time online, conducted more online visits and viewed more pages than narrowband Web surfers during the month. High-speed surfers spent an average of 17 hours and 20 minutes online last month, while time spent for dial-up users averaged less than 10 hours during the same timeframe. Broadband users also conducted nearly 15 more visits while viewing over 1,300 pages per person, more than double the amount of pages accessed by their narrowband counterparts.

Even as narrowband users comprise the bulk of the U.S. online population, dial-up access declined 10 percent last month. More than 74.4 million accessed the Internet through narrowband, with connection speeds ranging from 14.4-56K.

"2002 marked an entire year of decline for narrowband usage at home," said Greg Bloom, senior Internet analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings. "As the broadband infrastructure continues to expand across the U.S., we expect to see the mainstream online population convert to higher speeds."

In addition, men comprised 52 percent of all broadband users, while women made up 53 percent of all narrowband surfers.

Table 1. Broadband and Narrowband Year-Over-Year Growth Rates (U.S., Home)

Access Speed December 2002 Percent Growth
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Unique Audience 12/01-12/02
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Broadband 33.6 million 59%
Narrowband 74.4 million -10%
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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, December 2002


Broadband Usage for Older Web Surfers Spike

According to the latest monthly ratings from Nielsen//NetRatings, older age Internet users were the fastest growing segment using broadband. Nearly three million surfers ages 55-64 accessed the Web via cable, DSL, ISDN or other high-speed connections, surging 78 percent year-over-year. More than 3.1 million Internet users ages 50-54 logged online using faster connections last month, up 75 percent, while seniors ages 65-99 recorded a 67 percent increase to nearly 1.3 million.

At the other end of the spectrum, the youngest online users also reported higher growth rates in high-speed access. Broadband usage among teenagers ages 12-17 rose 66 percent in December to nearly 4.2 million, while kids ages 2-11 posted three million users, jumping 62 percent since last year.

"Members of Generation A have traditionally been late adopters of the Internet and technology overall, but it looks like this surfing demographic is finally catching the high-speed wave," added Bloom. "Cost is still an issue for many Web users looking to upgrade to fatter pipes, especially the senior population. Barriers such as fixed incomes and lack of familiarity with online technology and community pose difficult obstacles."

Table 2. Broadband Usage By Age Group, Ranked by Year-Over-Year Percent Growth (U.S., Home)

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Age Group 12/02 Unique Percent Growth
Audience (000) 12/01-12/02
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55 To 64 2,952 78%
50 To 54 3,128 75%
65 To 99 1,297 67%
12 To 17 4,181 66%
2 To 11 2,950 62%
35 To 49 10,100 62%
18 To 20 1,697 47%
25 To 34 5,822 45%
21 To 24 1,496 24%
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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, December 2002


Nielsen//NetRatings reports December 2002 data for the Top Sites by Parent Company and Top Brands. In addition, Nielsen//NetRatings reveals the Top Advertisers by Company for December 2002 along with the latest online Average Usage metrics for the month.

Nielsen//NetRatings Top 10 Web Sites by Parent Company and Top 10 Web Sites
By Brand

Month of December 2002

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. AOL Time
Warner 90,460 7:11:25 1. Yahoo! 80,483 2:37:49
_________________________________________________________________________
2. Microsoft 88,605 2:11:25 2. MSN 75,045 2:03:43
_________________________________________________________________________
3. Yahoo! 80,503 2:37:47 3. Microsoft 74,814 0:31:33
_________________________________________________________________________
4. Amazon 41,169 0:24:55 4. AOL 70,580 8:31:17
_________________________________________________________________________
5. Google 37,342 0:26:37 5. Amazon 40,706 0:22:51
__________________________________________________________________________
6. eBay 36,257 1:54:16 6. Google 37,342 0:26:37
_________________________________________________________________________
7. United States
Government 35,668 0:21:06 7. eBay 35,375 1:55:47
_________________________________________________________________________
8. RealNetworks 32,739 0:28:38 8. Real 32,640 0:28:40
_________________________________________________________________________
9. Terra 9. Lycos
Lycos 32,688 0:18:11 Networks 30,779 0:18:43
_________________________________________________________________________
10. About- 10. About
Primedia 30,744 0:16:09 Network 21,533 0:15:18
_________________________________________________________________________


Example: The data indicate that 30.7 million home and work Internet users visited at least one of the About-Primedia-owned sites or launched an About-Primedia-owned application during the month, and each person spent, on average, a total of 16 minutes and 9 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 are 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
Month of December 2002


Top advertisers, ranked by impressions, 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 Company
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Advertiser* Impressions (000)
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1. Amazon.com, Inc. 4,010,637
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2. The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. 3,194,925
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3. Classmates Online, Inc. 2,864,032
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4. SBC Communications, Inc. 2,284,529
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5. USA Interactive 2,237,737
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6. Dell Computer Corporation 2,064,423
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7. Barnes & Noble, Inc. 1,950,087
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8. CoolSavings, Inc. 1,775,207
-------------------------------------------------------
9. AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. 1,688,857
-------------------------------------------------------
10. Columbia House Company 1,556,407
-------------------------------------------------------


Impressions reported exclude house ads, which are ads that run on an advertiser's own Web property.
Example: An estimated 1.6 billion Columbia House Company advertisements were rendered for viewing during the surfing period.

Nielsen//NetRatings Average Internet Usage
Month of December 2002


Data below represent activity for the average Internet user during the designated monthly period.

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Home & Work, Home & Work, % Change
December November from
November
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Number of Sessions/Visits per Month 48 49 -2.0
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Number of Domains Visited per Month 76 76 0
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Web Page Views per Month 1,336 1,357 -1.6
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Web Page Views per Surfing Visit 35 35 0
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Time Spent per Month 45:13:36 45:09:09 +0.2
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Time Spent During Web Visit 0:32:41 0:32:56 -0.8
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Duration of a Web Page viewed 0:00:56 0:00:56 +0.3
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Active Digital Media Universe 131.9 million 132.8 million -0.7
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Current Digital Media
Universe Estimate 175.9 million 176.7 million -0.5
---------------------------------------------------------------------


Note: The Nielsen//NetRatings audience measurement panels represent the universe of persons with access to the Internet via personal computer either in the home, or at the workplace from a non-shared personal computer. The "active" portion of the universe previously represented persons who actively generated Web-traffic, or URLs, through a Web browser. With the launch of Digital Media Universe (DMU) measurement in October 2002, the "active" portion of the universe now represents persons who actively used a computer connected to the Internet and either generated Web-traffic, or launched and brought into focus any computer application tracked by the Nielsen//NetRatings meter, or both. The new definition of Active Internet Universe is applied consistently across all audience measurement reports. This is true whether the view includes Web traffic only, Internet applications usage only, AOL proprietary browser channels only, or the combined DMU report which includes Web traffic, AOL Proprietary browser channels and Internet applications usage in combination. The impact of this change on the size of the Active Internet Universe is currently an approximate 10 percent increase versus the previous definition based on Web-only activity.

About Nielsen//NetRatings

Nielsen//NetRatings is the global standard for digital media measurement and analysis and is the industry's premier source for online advertising intelligence with its NetView, AdRelevance, @Plan and WebRF services. Covering 70 percent of the world's Internet usage, the Nielsen//NetRatings services offer syndicated Internet and digital media ratings reports and custom-tailored data to help companies gain valuable insight into their business. For more information, please visit www.nielsen-netratings.com.

CONTACT: Maria Bumatay, +1-408-586-7560, or Max Heineman, +1-212-703-5953, both of NetRatings, Inc.




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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings