Research Says Time Spent Online is Rising

13 December 2002

Ten out of 12 global markets
measured by Nielsen//NetRatings

, the global standard for digital media
measurement and analysis, saw the average time spent online increase
significantly between May and October 2002.

“The average time global surfers spend online is rising rapidly, according
to the October Nielsen//NetRatings data,” said Richard Goosey, international
chief of measurement science, NetRatings. “In Hong Kong, where time spent
online was already an impressive 14 hours, surfers increased their web usage
by more than ten percent over the past six months, to nearly 16 hours in
October. In France average time spent online rose nearly 12 percent, and in
Germany it increased by a massive 22 percent, with surfers spending more than
ten hours a month online.

“The growth of high-speed Internet usage is pushing online time upwards,
as well as surfers` increased familiarity and dependence on the Internet,”
added Goosey. “Between September 2001 and 2002 in Germany, for instance, the
number of surfers using a DSL connection has quadrupled. DSL surfers in
Germany spend 21 hours a month online, compared to the six-and-a-half spent by
their dial-up counterparts. We see similar patterns in other countries, such
as Hong Kong, where broadband usage tops 75 percent, which is good news for
both telecom providers and advertisers.”