Direct Marketing, Mail Order, and E-commerce News from the National Mail Order Association
----------------------------------------------------
U.S. INTERNET USAGE SHOWS MATURE GROWTH, FORCING
INNOVATION OF NEW WEB OFFERINGS, ACCORDING TO
NIELSEN//NETRATINGS
Low-Hanging Fruit Lies in Global Markets
Nielsen//NetRatings, the global standard for Internet
audience measurement and analysis,
reported today that the United States, along with other more mature Internet
markets,
including Brazil, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden and United Kingdom, have
shown
minimal to flat growth in Internet users' time spent online at-home, forcing
companies online
to evolve their business to stimulate additional Web growth (see Table 1).
Nielsen//NetRatings found that easier growth opportunities
exist in several emerging
Internet markets, including Australia, France, Hong Kong, Italy and Japan, which
experienced double-digit increases in time spent online at-home. The latest
global
research from Nielsen//NetRatings tracks the Web usage behavior of 12 countries
worldwide, which accounts for more than 70 percent of the world's Internet
usage.
"As the Internet has officially become an important part of our lives, the U.S.
is primed for the next 'big thing' to spike Internet usage," said Kaizad Gotla,
senior Internet analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings. "There are many opportunities ahead
for companies online, but if they just continue to do what they're doing today,
they're only going to move sideways."
"The easiest opportunities are in countries where Internet usage patterns and
user/site
relationships are less established. Acquiring users in markets that are
currently in their
growth stages will lead to a loyal user base that will pay dividends for
Internet companies in the
future," continued Gotla.
Nielsen//NetRatings
found that Americans spend on average nearly 14 hours online each month,
which is close to the worldwide average. Those living in Hong Kong surf the
longest out of the
12 countries, averaging nearly 22 hours. On the lower end, Italians on average
log eight hours
online during the month.
Table 1. Nielsen//NetRatings Year-over-Year Growth in Time Spent Online, February
2005 (At-Home)
+-----------------+------------------------------+-----------------------+
| Country | Feb. 2005 Time Spent Online | Year-over-Year Growth |
| | (hr:min:sec) | |
+-----------------+------------------------------+-----------------------+
| Hong Kong | 21:53:24 | 25% |
| France | 14:25:38 | 19% |
| Italy | 7:59:57 | 15% |
| Japan | 14:50:42 | 12% |
| Australia | 11:39:06 | 10% |
| United Kingdom | 11:20:34 | 8% |
| Sweden | 10:29:33 | 8% |
| Switzerland | 10:52:28 | 7% |
| Brazil | 13:13:58 | 6% |
| Spain | 11:36:56 | 5% |
| Germany | 12:31:22 | 4% |
| United States | 13:44:04 | -2% |
+-----------------+------------------------------+-----------------------+
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings Global NetView Analysis, excluding Internet Applications
and Proprietary Channels, March 2005
The latest Nielsen//NetRatings global research shows that the majority of usage
growth has come from increased frequency of access or user session growth. Australia,
France, Hong Kong and Italy saw double-digit growth in the number of monthly
user sessions (see Table 2). In comparison, the U.S. experienced no growth, second
to last in the rankings.
"Shifts in media
consumption, steadily improving online offerings, and growing broadband
penetration
are likely factors in growing the number of online user sessions on a global
basis," said Gotla.
Table 2. Nielsen//NetRatings Sessions Growth, February 2005 (At-Home)
+--------------------+------------------------+--------------------------+
| Country | Sessions in February | Year-over-Year Session |
| | 2005 | Growth |
+--------------------+------------------------+--------------------------+
| Hong Kong | 30 | 26% |
| France | 27 | 17% |
| Australia | 21 | 15% |
| Italy | 15 | 10% |
| Switzerland | 23 | 9% |
| United Kingdom | 21 | 9% |
| Japan | 25 | 9% |
| Spain | 22 | 8% |
| Sweden | 20 | 7% |
| Brazil | 19 | 5% |
| United States | 25 | 0% |
| Germany | 23 | -1% |
+--------------------+------------------------+--------------------------+
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings Global NetView Analysis, excluding Internet Applications
and Proprietary Channels, March 2005
*********************************************************
Nielsen//NetRatings reports February 2005 data for the Top Sites by Parent Company
and Top Brands in the United States. In addition, Nielsen//NetRatings reveals
the Top Advertisers by Company in the U.S. during February 2005.
Nielsen//NetRatings Top 10 Web Sites by Parent Company and Top 10 Web Sites By
Brand (U.S.), Month of February 2005
Table 1. Top 10 Parent Companies, Combined Home & Work
+-----------------------------------+------------------+-----------------+
| Parent | Unique Audience | Time Per Person |
| | (000) | (hh:mm:ss) |
+-----------------------------------+------------------+-----------------+
| 1. Microsoft | 106,509 | 1:56:20 |
| 2. Time Warner | 95,744 | 5:05:43 |
| 3. Yahoo! | 93,820 | 2:48:21 |
| 4. Google | 70,460 | 0:35:57 |
| 5. United States Government | 53,751 | 0:29:43 |
| 6. eBay | 49,126 | 2:12:14 |
| 7. Amazon | 36,392 | 0:22:04 |
| 8. InterActiveCorp | 35,825 | 0:22:28 |
| 9. RealNetworks | 34,032 | 0:36:07 |
| 10. Walt Disney Internet Group | 31,086 | 0:43:14 |
+-----------------------------------+------------------+-----------------+
Example: The data indicates that 31.1 million home and work Internet users visited
at least one of the Walt Disney Internet Group-owned sites or launched a Walt
Disney Internet Group-owned application during the month, and each person spent,
on average, a total of 43 minutes and 14 seconds at one or more of its 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 is expressed as
the percentage of the total universe of Internet users who logged onto the Internet
at least once during the reporting period.
Table 2. Top 10 Brands, Combined Home & Work
.
+-------------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| Brand | Unique Audience (000) | Time Per Person |
| | | (hh:mm:ss) |
+-------------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| 1. Yahoo! | 93,322 | 2:48:47 |
| 2. Microsoft | 89,276 | 0:42:20 |
| 3. MSN | 88,920 | 1:36:45 |
| 4. AOL | 70,310 | 6:18:34 |
| 5. Google | 69,117 | 0:35:00 |
| 6. eBay | 47,585 | 2:09:17 |
| 7. Real | 33,399 | 0:34:54 |
| 8. MapQuest | 32,790 | 0:11:58 |
| 9. Amazon | 32,025 | 0:19:47 |
| 10. Weather Channel | 25,653 | 0:17:07 |
+-------------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance Top 10 Advertisers, U.S.
Month of February 2005
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.
+------------------------------------------+---------------------+
| Advertiser* | Impressions (000) |
+------------------------------------------+---------------------+
| 1. LowerMyBills.com, Inc. | 2,535,700 |
| 2. Netflix, Inc. | 1,884,247 |
| 3. Vonage Holdings Corp | 1,791,195 |
| 4. Dell Computer Corporation | 1,656,487 |
| 5. Ameritrade Holding Corporation | 1,652,247 |
| 6. United Online, Inc. | 1,395,761 |
| 7. Monster Worldwide, Inc. | 1,365,388 |
| 8. InterActiveCorp | 1,357,191 |
| 9. Scottrade, Inc. | 1,320,070 |
| 10. The News Corporation Limited | 1,318,400 |
+------------------------------------------+---------------------+
*Impressions reported exclude house ads, which are ads that run on an advertiser's
own Web property.
Example: An estimated 1.3 billion The News Corporation Limited ads were rendered
for viewing during the surfing period.
About Nielsen//NetRatings
Nielsen//NetRatings, a service provided by NetRatings, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTRT), is
the global standard for Internet audience measurement and analysis and is the
industry's premier source for online advertising intelligence with its NetView,
AdRelevance, @Plan, WebRF, MegaPanel and SiteCensus services. Covering 70 percent
of the world's Internet usage, the Nielsen//NetRatings services offer syndicated
Internet and digital media research reports and custom-tailored data to help
companies gain valuable insight into their business. For more information, please
visit http://www.nielsen-netratings.com.
----------------------------------------------------
Useful Direct Marketing and Mail Order Links.
Advertising- Bridal Market Advertising Guide
Advertising- Christian Market Advertising Guide
Advertising- Hispanic/Latino Market Advertising Guide
Advertising- Home Furnishing and Decor Advertising Guide
Advertising- Home Gardening Advertising Guide
Advertising- Parenting Market Advertising Guide
Advertising-Pet Market Advertising Guide
Advertising- Woman's Market Advertising Guide
Advertising- How to Create Great Small Business Advertising
Call Centers- Telephone Order Taking Services
Catalogs- Catalog and E-commerce Benchmarks
Catalogs- Directory of Mail Order Catalogs
Catalogs- Directory of Business to Business Catalogs
Classified Advertising- How to Market using Classified Ads
Direct Mail- Copywriters and Creative Services Guide
Direct Mail- Directory of Major Direct Mailers
Direct Mail- Inside Direct Mail Newsletter
Direct Marketing- Direct Marketing Seminars and Events
Direct Marketing- Direct Marketing Statistics
Direct Marketing- Direct Marketing Response Rates
Fulfillment- Warehouse and Order Fulfillment Centers
Mailing Lists- Direct Mail and E-mail Lists
Product Marketing- Promote your Product to Catalog and Direct Marketing Companies.
Product Marketing- Joe Cossman's Course for Marketing a Product
Product Marketing- How to Market a Product for Under $500
Wholesale and Drop Shipping- Professional Wholesale Resource Guide
National Mail Order Association Home