• by Masha Geller , June 17, 2002

Instant Messaging has not yet materialized into the super online ad vehicle some thought it would soon become, but consumers are sure addicted to it. Nielsen//NetRatings yesterday revealed that more than 41 million, or nearly 40% of the active Internet surfing population at home, used at least one of the four major IM applications during the month of May.

In addition, nearly 12.6 million office workers used IM during the same time period, reaching 31% of the total active Internet population at work.

AOL Instant Messenger took the top spot as the No. 1. instant messaging application, attracting more than 22 million unique users, or 21% of the total surfing population at home. MSN Messenger drew nearly 15.7 million Internet users, while Yahoo! Messenger attracted 12.4 million. Rounding out the list, ICQ users totaled nearly 4.4 million during the month.

"As with Internet browsers, instant messaging is an interface to the online world," said Jarvis Mak, senior Internet analyst, NetRatings. "Holding the key to this gateway offers tremendous strategic advantage to companies and marketers with the ability to shape content and commerce and choose among advertising partners."

Nielsen//NetRatings data show that active IM access multiple IM programs. The most common combination among surfers who use instant messaging is AOL Instant Messenger and MSN Messenger, which are also the two most popular applications.

+-----------------+-----------------+---------------+ 
|   Application   | Unique Audience |  Active
Reach | 
|                 |      (000)      |      (%)      | 
+-----------------+-----------------+---------------+ 
|TOTAL:           |     41,482      |       39%     | 
|AOL IM
|     22,144      |       21%     | 
|MSN Messenger    |     15,678      |       15%     | 
|Yahoo! Messenger |     12,402      |       12%     | 
|ICQ              |      4,368      |
4%      | 
+-----------------+-----------------+---------------+ 

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, May 2002