More info... ___________________________________________________ Andreas Ramos [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.andreas.com RELEVANTKNOWLEDGE AND IDC ANNOUNCE THE FIRST RESULTS OF THEIR SERIES OF JOINT REPORTS, WEB USAGE TRENDS 1998 http://www.relevantknowledge.com/Press/release.html Report Examines Behavior of Home Web Users Who Will More Than Triple in the United States by 2002 Framingham, MA, June 22, 1998 -- According to the first in a series of four quarterly Web trends reports resulting from the joint venture between International Data Corporation (IDC) and RelevantKnowledge, Inc., (Atlanta) the Web is a key medium for reaching home Web users who have the propensity to purchase online. The number of home Web users in the United States will increase from roughly 30 million to nearly 102 million by 2002, and IDC reports that the percentage of those users who buy online will grow from 36% to almost 50% with spending increasing from $4.3 billion in 1997 to over $54 billion in 2002. "The Web has reached critical mass," said Jill Frankle, program manager of IDC's Consumer Internet program. "IDC and RelevantKnowledge have given customers the ability to fully understand the people who use the Web and how they are changing. Whether a company sells directly to consumers or not, it needs to recognize the Web as a 'bona fide' distribution channel." "Understanding the demographic distribution of visitors to different Web sites will make the difference in deciding where to spend Web advertising dollars," said Lisa Sharkis, director of product research, RelevantKnowledge, Inc. "The information presented in the RelevantKnowledge/IDC study allows marketers and advertisers the ability to find out what types of sites their target markets frequent." The report, Web Usage Trends 1998 provides data and analysis of the demographic distribution of visitors to different sites defined by content or by usage. Key findings for the First Quarter of '98 include the following: Nearly 63% of visitors to special communication sites and 60% of visitors to home and living sites are women. Of commerce sites, classified/auction sites have the highest composition of males 50 and older with 63 % of total traffic. Twenty-three percent of adult entertainment viewers maintain household incomes of $75,000 and above. Teenage girls' surfing habits bear a closer resemblance to adult females than to teenage males in their surfing choices and habits. RelevantKnowledge's latest quarterly U.S. Web enumeration indicates that the population of Web users continues to be skewed toward males, composing 56% of the Web audience. In comparison, 48% of the U.S. population are men. In addition, the most highly represented age group for males on the Web are 18-34; the least-represented age group for males are 50 and older, with an 8% composition of the Web universe. This contrasts with the overall U.S. population, in which 14% of males in the U.S. are over 50. "Over time, we predict greater proportions of both males and females on the Web in the 50+ category as they turn to the Internet for health and medical information and in the longer term, for bill presentment and payment services," said Frankle. "This age group may also be coming online via non-PC devices, either in the form of NC devices such as WebTV or via digital cable set-top boxes." RelevantKnowledge and IDC's Web Usage Trends, 1998 reveals that traffic to commerce sites crosses all gender and age boundaries. Nearly a quarter of users who visit commerce sites have income above $75,000; 23% of this group are college educated. Although software still ranks as the number one item purchased via the Web, other products such as books, hard goods and clothes rank highly as well. The diversity of purchases online demonstrates that Web buyers are no longer only the technology-savvy who embraced the Web early on, but now more of a mass-market audience. ____________________________________________________________________ -------------------------------------------------------------------- Join The Web Consultants Association : Register on our web site Now Web Consultants Web Site : http://just4u.com/webconsultants If you lose the instructions All subscription/unsubscribing can be done directly from our website for all our lists. ---------------------------------------------------------------------
