MONTHLY
INTERNET RATINGS FROM NIELSEN//NETRATINGS
Online Travel Activity
Drops as Summer Ends
NEW YORK, NY – September 15,
1999 - The following Internet
audience and advertising information is from Nielsen//NetRatings,
the Internet measurement service from Nielsen Media Research (NYSE:
NMR) and NetRatings, Inc. The information includes: Top 25 Web Properties,
Top 25 Internet Advertisers, Top 10 Banner Ads and Average Web Usage
statistics for the month of August 1999.
Noteworthy This Month:
Vertical Category Activity
- Activity on travel sites decreased
-3.7%, marking a descent from 13.4 million unique visitors to 12.9
million. The travel sites showing the sharpest decline in unique
audience numbers were: City.net, -53.8%; Amtrak.com, -47.2%; Itn.net
(Internet Travel Network), -36.6%; Previewtravel.com, -35.4%; and
Continental.com, -33.0%.
- Other vertical categories showed
the following changes from July to August: Sports grew by 19.0%,
Internet Services/Email increased by 17.4% and Shopping rose by
15.5%.
Portal Category Growth
Unique audience in the Portals/Search
Engines category increased 6.0% from July to August, with the top
10 portal sites experiencing zero percent growth. Sites with a reach
of 7.1% or less comprised the majority of the increase. Search engines/portals
that showed the most growth in unique audience size from July to August
were: Local-city.com with a 70.9% increase, Icqit.com with a 33.3%
growth, and Go2net.com with a 29.1% increase.
Increase in Internet Population
The number of people in U.S. households
who went online in August increased by 6.5%, growing to 66.8 million
people online as compared to 62.8 million people in July. The current
size of the Internet universe (those who have access from home, but
did not necessary go online) increased by 2.1%. In August there were
108.6 million people with Internet access as compared to 106.4 million
in July. The audience size for June was 105.4 million.
Other Sites Rise in Rankings from
July to August
Other sites that showed significant
increases in unique visitors from July to August include: Real.com,
160.3%; M-w.com (Merriam-Webster dictionary), 98.1%; Wizards.com (Wizards
of the Coast), 60.5%; Americangreetings.com, 57.2%; and Blairwitch.com,
30.4%.
Banner with the Highest Click Rate
The most clicked on banner in August
was Amazon.com’s ad featuring its auction services with a 15.1%
click rate, as compared to Theglobe.com’s ad for free email,
which had the highest click-through rate in July, at 37.7%.
Nielsen//NetRatings:
Top 25 Web Sites by Property
Month of August 1999
Ranking of the Most
Visited Web Properties
| |
Property |
Unique
Audience (000) |
Time Per Person
(hrs:min:sec)
|
| 1. |
AOL
Websites |
36,807
|
0:30:52
|
| 2. |
Yahoo! |
33,669
|
1:13:14
|
| 3. |
MSN |
22,894
|
0:57:25
|
| 4. |
Lycos
Network |
20,612
|
0:18:22
|
| 5. |
GO
Network |
14,658
|
0:24:24
|
| 6. |
Excite@Home |
11,871
|
0:46:04
|
| 7. |
Microsoft |
11,686
|
0:19:26
|
| 8. |
Real
Networks |
11,176
|
0:12:04
|
| 9. |
Amazon |
8,217
|
0:13:32
|
| 10. |
Time
Warner |
8,129
|
0:19:34
|
| 11. |
AltaVista |
7,723
|
0:13:03
|
| 12. |
Blue
Mt. Arts |
6,998
|
0:17:13
|
| 13. |
eBay |
5,961
|
2:25:03
|
| 14. |
LookSmart |
5,684
|
0:11:53
|
| 15. |
Snap |
5,382
|
0:14:18
|
| 16. |
CNET |
4,965
|
0:11:22
|
| 17. |
Xoom |
4,720
|
0:09:57
|
| 18. |
Go2net
Network |
4,640
|
0:13:13
|
| 19. |
ZDNet |
4,545
|
0:18:46
|
| 20. |
InfoSpace |
4,482
|
0:07:14
|
| 21. |
About.com |
4,412
|
0:06:02
|
| 22. |
Viacom
Int'l |
4,313
|
0:21:15
|
| 23. |
AT&T |
4,241
|
0:23:47
|
| 24. |
GoTo.com |
4,074
|
0:05:09
|
| 25. |
CNN
|
3,228
|
0:25:16
|
Example: The data indicate that approximately
4.1 million home Internet users visited at least one of the GoTo.com-owned
sites during the reporting period, and each person spent, on average,
a total of 5 minutes and 9 seconds at one or more of their sites.
Notes: Rankings are based on audience
measurement of people who have access to the Internet from home. A
property is defined as a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs
owned by a single entity. Reach is a measure of the total unduplicated
audience that visits a property. The data are expressed as the percent
of the total universe of Internet users who logged onto the Internet
at least once during the reporting period.
Nielsen//NetRatings:
Top 25 Advertisers
Month of August 1999
Top advertisers, ranked
by banner impressions, are based on data from BannerTrackSM,
Nielsen//NetRatings' syndicated advertising research report. An impression
is counted each time an ad banner is fully loaded onto a user’s
screen.
| |
Advertiser* |
Impressions
(000)
|
Reach %
|
| 1. |
TRUSTe |
1,208,374
|
22.9
|
| 2. |
Microsoft |
617,982
|
46.1
|
| 3. |
Amazon |
403,136
|
45.0
|
| 4. |
America
Online |
222,235
|
32.0
|
| 5. |
Next
Card |
212,930
|
30.8
|
| 6. |
CDNOW |
203,995
|
27.3
|
| 7. |
Yahoo! |
182,552
|
26.3
|
| 8. |
Ad
Council |
140,384
|
14.9
|
| 9. |
Wingspan
Bank |
138,681
|
27.1
|
| 10. |
SexTracker |
134,513
|
8.5
|
| 11. |
uBid |
128,111
|
21.3
|
| 12. |
About.com |
126,918
|
19.0
|
| 13. |
Discover
Brokerage |
107,174
|
6.1
|
| 14. |
LinkExchange |
101,993
|
14.4
|
| 15. |
Enews |
100,909
|
9.9
|
| 16. |
AT&T |
99,112
|
18.4
|
| 17. |
WebSideStory |
96,136
|
18.4
|
| 18. |
Beyond.com |
94,894
|
17.7
|
| 19. |
E*TRADE |
93,800
|
5.3
|
| 20. |
Barnes
& Noble |
89,203
|
18.9
|
| 21. |
Netscape |
87,790
|
19.6
|
| 22. |
Datek |
83,485
|
12.1
|
| 23. |
Lowestfare |
83,438
|
21.9
|
| 24. |
Ameritrade |
83,363
|
4.9
|
| 25. |
Waterhouse
|
82,961
|
3.6
|
*Impressions reported include house
ads, which are ads that run on an advertiser’s own web property.
Example: An estimated 83.0 million
Waterhouse banners were completely loaded on users' computers during
the reporting period. These banners were delivered to 3.6% or 2.4
million home Internet users.
Nielsen//NetRatings:
Top Ten Ad Banners Viewed
Month of August 1999
Top Banners, ranked according to reach
percentage, are cited from BannerTrackSM, Nielsen//NetRatings'
syndicated ad research service.
| |
Advertiser* |
Reach %
|
Creative |
| 1. |
GetSmart |
8.8
|
Find:
A Loan for Me. Refinancing, Second Mortgage, Debt Consolidation
|
| 2. |
Uproar |
8.6
|
Where
does Homer Simpson Work? Bar, Bank, Nuclear Plant, Sewer |
| 3. |
Autoweb |
6.5
|
BUY IT;
SELL IT |
| 4. |
Autoweb |
6.3
|
GET A
PRICE |
| 5. |
AccelerationSoftware |
6.2
|
Find
the ball and win a free Internet Telephone AND a web accelerator! |
| 6. |
GetSmart |
6.2
|
Lose
Interest in Your Mortgage. Click here to refinance and save. |
| 7. |
Uproar |
6.1
|
FREE
BINGO. Where does Homer Simpson Work? Bar, Bank, Nuclear Plant,
Sewer |
| 8. |
Ad Council |
6.0
|
ESGR:
Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. |
| 9. |
About.com |
6.0
|
User
survey about gun control: Should all guns be outlawed? Yes, No |
| 10. |
Bonzi
Software |
5.7
|
Speed
Up Internet Connection |
*Ad banners that run predominantly
on an advertiser's own property are not included in the top banner
rankings.
Average Internet
Usage
Month of August 1999
Data below represent
activity for the average Internet user during the month.
|
Current Month
|
Last Month
|
% Change
|
| Number
of Sessions per Month |
17
|
17
|
0.0
|
| Number
of Unique Sites Visited |
11
|
12
|
-8.3
|
| Page
Views per Month |
351
|
353
|
-0.6
|
| Page
Views per Surfing Session |
21
|
21
|
0.0
|
| Time
Spent per Month |
7: 48: 53
|
7: 39: 00
|
+2.2
|
| Time
Spent During Surfing Session |
0: 27: 30
|
0: 27: 00
|
+1.9
|
| Duration
of a Page Viewed |
0: 01: 19
|
0: 01: 17
|
+1.9
|
| Average
Click Rate for Top Banners |
0.62
|
0.58
|
+6.9
|
| Active
Internet Universe (actually surfed) |
66.8 million
|
62.8 million
|
+6.5
|
| Current
Internet Universe Estimate (had access, but did not necessarily
go online) |
108.6 million
|
106.4 million
|
+2.1
|
The Nielsen//NetRatings audience measurement
service collects data from approximately 20,000 panelists as they
surf the web. The Nielsen//NetRatings panel is the largest media research
sample of at-home Internet users currently being measured in real
time. Nielsen//NetRatings uses unique technology capable of measuring
both Internet use and advertising to provide the most timely, accurate
and comprehensive Internet usage data and advertising information
in the industry.
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