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Nielsen//NetRatings
Expands Yahoo!, AOL, MSN retain leadership with global Internet users STAMFORD, CT – October 31, 2000 – Nielsen//NetRatings today released a substantially expanded global Internet index, including audience information from 17 countries, the broadest coverage yet available in the Internet measurement industry. The global Nielsen//NetRatings index now includes audience data from the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Brazil, Germany, the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, France and Italy. Nielsen//NetRatings, the world’s largest and fastest growing Internet audience measurement service, is produced by ACNielsen eRatings.com (a venture between ACNielsen Corp., NYSE:ART and NetRatings, Inc., Nasdaq: NTRT), Nielsen Media Research and NetRatings, Inc. With the expected addition of audience information from the Netherlands next month, Nielsen//NetRatings coverage will reach nearly 85 percent of the global Internet audience universe. “The September index illustrates the growing popularity of Internet shopping sites,” said David Day, director of analytics, ACNielsen eRatings.com. “In the last two months, for example, Amazon has risen from 14th to 12th in the index, eBay has risen from 16th to 13th. These two sites alone attracted more than 30 million visitors in September.” Overall, the expanded September index showed that the major portal providers, Yahoo!, AOL and MSN retained their leadership in Internet traffic, attracting audiences of 80 million, 71 million and 65 million individuals, respectively. (See Table 1.) “Globally, the pattern of Web stratification is following the path begun in the United States earlier this year,” said Allen Weiner, vice president-analytical services, NetRatings, Inc. “We are seeing a few major, heavily branded, full-service sites dominate the landscape in nearly every country, followed by a handful of near-majors. The 90-10 rule in the US, where 90 percent of surfers go to 10 percent of the sites, its taking hold worldwide.” Nielsen//NetRatings Global Internet Index Table
1. Top 25 Web Sites by Property, At-Home, September 2000
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings (all data are from September 2000, except Germany, which provided data from August 2000) The expanded global index also provides new insight into the growth of international Internet traffic. During September, the “Active Internet Universe” as a percentage of the total number of individuals with Internet access (“Current Internet Universe Estimate”), increased to 55.3% from 54.6% (See Table 2). With US usage remaining stable at just over 60%, the increase was driven by countries, including Australia, up 5 points to 54%, Denmark, up 5 points to 58%, Finland, up 6 points to 52%, Italy, up 7 points to 46%, New Zealand, up 4 points to 56% and Singapore, up 5 points to 39%. “Some of this increase may have been driven by the end of the summer vacation season in Europe,” said David Day. “Nevertheless, the data indicate that many international Internet markets are maturing rapidly and will soon reach the activity levels already established in the US.”
Nielsen//NetRatings
Global Internet Index
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings 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. |