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Nielsen//NetRatings July Global Internet Index Finds E-Commerce Web Traffic Still Strong In Just One Month, Number of Active Internet Users Increases 4.5% Globally, to 122 million Data Shows That Company Websites Have Six Minutes to Make User Impression STAMFORD, CT – August 31, 2000 – Nielsen//NetRatings, the fastest growing Internet audience measurement service in the world, today released results from its July global Internet index, showing that 42 percent of home Internet surfers visited shopping sites last month. “Despite wide-spread investor concerns about the viability of e-Commerce, shopping sites are pulling in enormous traffic, showing the global appeal and swelling potential of shopping on the on the Internet,” said David Day, director of analytics, ACNielsen eRatings.com. Nielsen//NetRatings is a service provided by ACNielsen eRatings.com (a venture between ACNielsen Corp., NYSE: ART and NetRatings, Inc., Nasdaq: NTRT), Nielsen Media Research and NetRatings, Inc. “Shopping sites attracted nearly 52 million visitors in July, three million more than in June, accounting for 42% of the active Internet audience last month,” Day said. “Content-rich e-Commerce sites like Amazon and eBay are leading this trend by attracting large global audiences and generating large numbers of page views. One in 10 people online in July went to eBay, reflecting its global significance.” Day also noted that outside the US, Amazon attracted a majority male audience, most notably in the UK, where twice as many males visited Amazon as women. However, in the US, women surfers outnumbered male surfers on Amazon, accounting for 54% of Amazon’s traffic, as opposed to the 46% of traffic from male surfers. In each country, Amazon measured its highest proportion of visitors from the 25-49-year-old age bracket. “Like many global e-Commerce sites, Amazon is most mature in the US,” Day said. “While it has successfully garnered female shoppers in the US, its more recent expansion into other product areas, such as software, PC and video games, auctions and DVD and video products, has clearly attracted male shoppers outside the US, who are most likely attracted by the variety of products available and the ease of shopping the site.” July results also showed Yahoo! with a leading global position, attracting an audience of 66 million individuals, followed by AOL, with an audience of 62 million and MSN, with an audience of 50 million. (See Table 1).
Nielsen//NetRatings
Global Internet Index
In addition to shopping sites, the categories of portals and search engines and telecom and Internet services ranked high in unique audience and percent of the active audience reached in July. Day also pointed to the ranking for corporate information sites, such as company websites, as instructive for marketers looking to establish a presence on the Internet. (See Table 2). “Though corporate information sites ranked, as would be expected, below such audience-grabbing categories as news and information and entertainment, a fair share of the global audience – 23% of the home surfers active in July – are visiting those sites and spending an average of six minutes there,” he said. “For companies that have corporate websites, or for companies looking to create a website as a marketing tool, this tells us that many consumers, job-seekers, investors and possibly even competitors are analyzing those sites and using the Internet as a means to get a further impression of a company. Corporations have six minutes to make the impression they want to make on those important audiences, so this medium should be taken very seriously.”
Nielsen//NetRatings
Global Internet Index
In July, the online universe – the number of people with Internet access -- grew 4.5% over June figures, rising to 216 million people in July from 207 million people across Australia, Canada, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, the UK and the US in June. Similarly, the number of people active on the Internet in July increased 4.5% to 122 million, which equates to 56% of those with Internet access. (See Table 3). Nielsen//NetRatings
Global Internet Index July
2000
June
2000
%
Change
Number
of Sessions per Month
17
17 0.00 Number
of Unique Sites Visited 11 11 0.00 Page
Views per Month 673 637 5.60 Page
Views per Surfing Session 38 38 0.00 Time
Spent per Month 8:57:47 8:30:33 5.33 Time
Spent During Surfing Session 0:30:56 0:30:14 2.27 Duration
of a Page viewed 0:00:49 0:00:49 0.00 Average
Click Rate for Top Banners 0.51 0.52 -1.33 Active
Internet Universe
121,945,500
116,734,979 4.46 Current
Internet Universe Estimate
216,442,238
207,211,099 4.45 About
Nielsen//NetRatings 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 global marketplace. Nielsen//NetRatings tracks the entire spectrum of Internet user behavior, leveraging proprietary data-collection technology from NetRatings, Nielsen Media Research's 50 years of expertise in research and audience measurement, and ACNielsen’s international leadership in offering market research information covering more than 100 countries. About
ACNielsen eRatings.com ACNielsen eRatings.com is a venture between ACNielsen (NYSE: ART) and NetRatings Inc. (Nasdaq: NTRT). ACNielsen is the world's leading market research firm, offering measurement and analysis of marketplace dynamics, consumer attitudes and behavior, and new and traditional media in more than 100 countries, and NetRatings is the leading provider of Internet audience measurement technology and analysis. Through the Nielsen//NetRatings service, ACNielsen eRatings.com is creating the first global service for tracking audiences, advertising and user activity on the Internet in more than 30 countries worldwide. About
NetRatings, Inc. NetRatings
(Nasdaq: NTRT) provides Internet audience measurement and analysis services
that enable its customers to make informed decisions regarding their
Internet strategies. NetRatings delivers accurate and timely information
collected from a representative sample of Internet users and augments
it with detailed, flexible reporting and in-depth analyses. ### Forward Looking Statements: Certain statements contained herein are forward looking. These may be identified by the use of forward-looking words or phrases such as "anticipate," "believe," "expect," "could," "should," "plan," "estimated," "potential," "target," "aim" and "goal," among others. In connection with the "safe-harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, ACNielsen and NetRatings are hereby identifying important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements made regarding the venture. Any such statement is qualified by reference to the following cautionary statement. Risks
and uncertainties that may affect the operations, performance, development
and results of the venture's business include: (i) the likely incurrence
of significant losses by the venture while its business is being developed
and the difficulty of forecasting future revenues and costs;(ii) the risk
that a competing company's Internet audience measurement service will
become the accepted standard for Internet audience measurement; (iii)
the ability to successfully develop, promote and maintain the Nielsen//NetRatings
brand; (iv) the effects on demand for the venture's products and services
if the use of the Internet does not continue to grow; (v) the effect that
governmental regulation of the Internet could have on the growth of the
Internet; (vi) the ability to successfully respond to rapid technological
change, including the uncertainties surrounding the emergence of new Internet
access devices; (vii) the risks associated with international development
of the Internet ratings service, including effecting necessary changes
to the existing software to accommodate language and other differences
in the jurisdictions in which the venture will operate and the effect
of laws and regulatory requirements in such jurisdictions; (viii) the
risks involved in collecting personal information from panelists, including
the effect of privacy laws in the jurisdictions in which the venture will
operate; (ix) the impact of foreign exchange rate fluctuations since so
much of the venture's earnings will be generated abroad; (x) the risk
of technical difficulties or service interruptions and the lack of a backup
facility in the event of a systems failure at NetRatings' computer operations
center in San Jose, California; and (xi) the uncertainties of litigation,
including the IRI lawsuit against ACNielsen; as well as other risks and
uncertainties that may be detailed from time to time in the Securities
and Exchange Commission filings of the venture partners.
Developments
in any of the areas referred to above could cause the results of the venture
to differ from projected results. ACNielsen and NetRatings caution that
the foregoing list of important factors is not exclusive and they do not
undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from
time to time regarding the venture.
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