Internet Usage at Record High in October

  • by November 13, 2001
The Internet ratings report for the month of October 2001 from Nielsen//NetRatings, reveals that Internet usage in the U.S. reached an all-time high, rising 4% in October and spiking 15% year-over-year to more than 115.2 million users. The growth in Web usage is the largest increase seen in 2001.

Overall growth of the active Internet population swelled 15% during the past year. Surfers accessing the Internet at-home fueled the increase, jumping 14% to more than 103.7 million Internet users. The number of office workers logging online grew 11% in October to more than 40.1 million.

Sean Kaldor, VP of analytical services at NetRatings said the growth indicates that "the overall health of the Internet is solid in spite of the current economic conditions and recent national events.

"Last year, from October to December 2000, we witnessed an 8% surge in Web users. If a similar trend appears again in the fourth quarter of this year, we are establishing a firm base for stable growth of holiday e-commerce traffic."

Nielsen//NetRatings also reports that web usage continues to grow. Three out of five, or 62% of all Americans had Internet access in October 2001, as compared to 57% last year. Also, surfers spent more time online and logged onto the Internet more frequently in October as compared to last year.

On average, Web surfers spent 19 hours online during the month of October, rising nearly 9% from 17.5 hours the year prior. Americans are accessing the Internet more frequently, averaging 35 sessions in October. This is a 6% jump year-over-year from 33 sessions during the same time last year.

Active Internet Population Trend (Combined Home & Work)

+---------+--------------------------+  
| Month   | Active Internet Universe |  
+---------+--------------------------+  
| Oct-01  |      115.2  million      |  
| Sep-01  |
110.8  million      |  
| Aug-01  |      112.6  million      |  
| Jul-01  |      112.6  million      |  
| Jun-01  |      112.9  million      |  
| May-01  |      113.7  million      |

| Apr-01  |      113.1  million      |  
| Mar-01  |      112.7  million      |  
| Feb-01  |      109.5  million      |  
| Jan-01  |      111.1  million      |  
| Dec-00  |
108.7  million      |  
| Nov-00  |      105.3  million      |  
| Oct-00  |      100.3  million      |  
+---------+--------------------------+  
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, October
2001
Internet Penetration (Combined Home & Work)
+--------+-------------+--------------+-----------+  
| Month  | Current Web |   Census
| Internet  |  
|        |  Universe   | Population   |Penetration|  
+--------+-------------+--------------+-----------+  
| Oct-01 | 76.5 million| 285.5 million|     62%   |  
| Oct-00
|155.9 million| 275.8 million|     57%   |  
+--------+-------------+--------------+-----------+  
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, October 2001
Top 25 Web Sites by Property, October 2001 (Combined Home & Work)
+---------------------------+----------+----------+  
|    Property               |  Unique  | Time Per |  
|
| Audience |  Person  |  
|                           |  (000)   |(hh:mm:ss)|  
+---------------------------+----------+----------+  
|1.  AOL Time Warner        |  80,593  |  1:23:06 |

|2.  Yahoo!                 |  71,142  |  2:19:17 |  
|3.  MSN                    |  66,905  |  1:49:38 |  
|4.  Microsoft              |  44,098  |  0:13:23 |  
|5.  Lycos Network
|  34,212  |  0:17:41 |  
|6.  Amazon                 |  27,800  |  0:19:24 |  
|7.  About-Primedia         |  26,617  |  0:11:52 |  
|8.  Walt Disney Internet   |  26,281  |  0:39:41 |

|9.  eUniverse Network      |  24,181  |  0:17:34 |  
|10. eBay                   |  23,092  |  2:18:37 |  
|11. Google                 |  21,271  |  0:31:22 |  
|12. American Greetings
|  21,263  |  0:14:02 |  
|13. Excite@Home            |  20,616  |  1:00:01 |  
|14. CNET Networks          |  18,990  |  0:16:39 |  
|15. InfoSpace              |  18,880  |  0:12:34 |

|16. Ask Jeeves             |  16,675  |  0:10:19 |  
|17. ClassMates Online      |  15,042  |  0:09:50 |  
|18. Vivendi Universal      |  13,195  |  0:19:52 |  
|19. AT&T
|  12,977  |  0:29:39 |  
|20. CitySearch/Ticketmaster|  11,286  |  0:23:40 |  
|21. Homestore              |  11,142  |  0:17:13 |  
|22. Gannett LTD            |  10,876  |  0:25:12 |

|23. Homestead.com          |  10,863  |  0:05:20 |  
|24. EarthLink              |  10,734  |  0:23:57 |  
|25. Real Networks          |  10,592  |  0:12:09 |

+---------------------------+----------+----------+  
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, October 2001
Average Internet Usage
+---------------------------+----------+----------+--------+  
|                           |   Home   |   Home   |    %   |  
|                           |  & Work, |  & Work, |
Change |  
|                           |    Oct.  |   Sept.  |        |  
+---------------------------+----------+----------+--------+  
|# of Sessions per Month    |       35 |       32 |
9.4  |  
|Page Views per Month       |    1,194 |    1,085 |  10.1  |  
|Page Views per Session     |       35 |       34 |   2.9  |  
|Time Spent per Month       | 19:02:35 | 17:05:45 |
11.4  |  
|Time Spent During Session  |  0:32:44 |  0:31:50 |   2.8  |  
|Duration of Page viewed    |  0:00:57 |  0:00:56 |   1.2  |  
|Active Web Universe        |115.2 mil |110.8 mil |
-1.6  |  
|Current Web Universe (Est.)|176.5 mil |175.3 mil |   1.4  |  
+---------------------------+----------+----------+--------+  
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, October 2001
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