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Nielsen//NetRatings launches Hong Kong's first Internet advertising and audience tracking data First
monthly rankings reveal Yahoo! captures largest audience. Hong
Kong, October 25, 2000 – Nielsen//NetRatings, the world’s
fastest-growing Internet audience measurement service, today released
inaugural findings of home Internet usage in Hong Kong, showing that
in September Findings from Nielsen//NetRatings unique BannerTrackÔ service, which reports top banner advertisements by impression, domain and company, showed the leading online advertisers in Hong Kong were Next Media Interactive, hongkong.com, the Oriental Press Group and City Telecom (HK) with almost 140 million impressions combined. Of the top four, Next Media Interactive’s were the only banners to achieve above the average ‘click rate’ of 0.56 %. While the numbers are relatively large these top four advertisers had their banners almost exclusively on their own sites. 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. The release of data in Hong Kong brings to five, the number of countries in Asia Pacific now measured by Nielsen//NetRatings' panel based Internet service. Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Japan were launched earlier this year, and services in Taiwan and Korea will be launched by year end, with China to follow in early 2001. The Hong Kong audience information is based on a representative sample of just over 3,000 Internet users, the largest panel under real time measurement in the SAR. Globally, the Nielsen//NetRatings audience measurement service collects real-time data from more than175,000 Internet users, currently in 16 countries representing over 80% of global Internet activity. These panels collectively represent the largest sample of Internet users in the industry. Hugh Bloch, managing director of ACNielsen eRatings.com in Hong Kong said the rollout of data means that for the first time Hong Kong advertisers, agencies, media buyers, venture capitalists, internet analysts and other blue chip businesses operating in the new economy have access to the highest quality real-time data, including the exclusive Nielsen//NetRating’s BannerTrackÔ online advertising measurement. "We are extremely pleased that a large number of agencies and blue chip clients operating in Hong Kong's new economy have already subscribed to the Nielsen//NetRatings service, including Yahoo!, Intel, McKinsey & Co., Carat, Mindshare, Grey/Mediacom, McCann Erickson, Zenith, Real Media, monster.com, TVB.com and Cable TV, " Bloch said.
“The Internet is the first truly global medium and our findings show it has become a significant communications and e-commerce tool in Hong Kong. Users are surfing the globe in their selection of sites, but in many cases are staying close to home by visiting local domains and clicking on local ad banners," Bloch said. Table
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Of the top banners, six achieved click through rates of over 10%, including two adult banners. This compares favorably with other countries at similar stages of Internet development, but substantially behind the USA where the top six ‘clicked on’ banners each achieved rates of over 40%, despite a slightly lower average click rate than in Hong Kong. “The click through rates in Hong Kong are likely to increase significantly as advertisers and their agencies use the Nielsen//NetRatings service to better target their advertising and improve their creative, as was the case in the USA where the service was launched over 18 month’s ago,” Bloch said. Table
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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 About
NetRatings, Inc. ### 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. |