• by August 21, 2000

Media Metrix today released a report documenting significant shifts in the composition of the online population according to household income over the past year.

The study reveals that while the number of Internet users with annual household incomes under $25k have grown nearly 50%, outpacing the growth of total users, they still only represent 9.7% of the overall Internet using population.

Lower-income Web users, new to the Internet, tend to be less experienced surfers and spend more time online - about 13 hours per month - viewing more unique pages of content (over 700 pages in June 2000). Higher-income users, on the other hand, tend to be more experienced surfers, spending less time - just over nine hours - and viewing less content (about 550 pages per month).

Media Metrix also found that household income also appears to influence Internet category preferences with lower-income groups visiting career and auction sites, while higher-income audiences flock to hobby-leisure, auto, sports and travel sites.

"A recent combination of declines in computer prices and increased Web access in academic and business environments has made the Web more readily available to people, regardless of their household income," says Anne Rickert, analyst, Media Metrix.

"Because Internet users with higher household incomes were among the earliest adopters of the net, they are more likely to have already established their online preferences, thereby streamlining their sessions," Rickert said. "Because many lower-income users are new to the Internet, and therefore less experienced, they are likely to spend more time and view more content online as they get acquainted with the medium."

Interestingly, the top-ranked sites for each household income break appear to reflect users' purchasing power and financial security.