Number of Female Web Surfers Grows Faster Than Overall Internet Population
- by January 18, 2002
Females accounted for 52% or 55.0 million Internet users at home. Males comprised the remaining 48% of the total surfing population, rising 3% from 48.2 million to 49.8 million surfers.
Web usage by male surfers at home exceeded the usage patterns of females, as males spent more time on the Internet and accessed more content than their female counterparts.
In December, males spent 24 percent more time online at home than women, averaging 11 hours, rising 17% from a year ago. By comparison, females spent 9 hours online, posting an 18% increase. Men logged onto the Internet 24% more times than women, averaging 21 sessions during the month, posting a 17% increase. Female surfers accessed the Internet 17 times this past December, rising 13% from the year prior. Male surfers also viewed 40% more pages than women. On average, men viewed 801 pages, while women viewed 573.
“Men spent more time online, logged on more often, and accessed more content than women, despite being out-numbered by the female Internet population by more than 5.2 million surfers,” said Dawn Brozek, senior Internet analyst at NetRatings. “Generally speaking, women shoulder a majority of the household responsibilities and therefore, face a `time poverty' at home, with less leisure time than men to spend on activities such as surfing the Internet.”
On a global level, the Nielsen//NetRatings Global WebWatch data for November found that the audiences of the top 10 global properties were all predominantly male, with CNET Networks and eBay showing the most marked tendency toward male users, particularly in Europe and Asia Pacific.
"With the exception of the US and Canada, the Internet population in every country Nielsen//NetRatings measures is predominantly male," said Richard Goosey, chief of measurement science and analytics at Nielsen//NetRatings.
"The proportions of the audiences for these top properties are often heavily male,” he added, “going well beyond the general male to female proportion of the overall population. However, the gender proportion for each property in the Americas region is more balanced, reflecting the strong female audiences in the US and Canada."
Goosey also noted that the demographic analysis by region showed that MSN is attracting the most consistent audience when the male vs. female demographic is compared, with only a 14% variation across regions.
"A balanced audience is desirable, serving as an indicator that the domains and sites contained in that property combine to provide the proverbial 'something for everyone.' While one of the beauties of the Internet is that specific sites can be wildly successful in targeting specific genders and age groups, at the property level Internet companies become like any other mass media - they must attract as broad an audience as possible in order to remain viable for the long term."
