Latest Internet User Information

INTERNET USAGE IN USA
Reports from Emaketer.com (http://www.emarketer.com)

Internet usage is becoming a daily habit in the US. Almost everybody is online.

Although growth has slowed to the low single digits in recent years—projected to be just 3.1% in 2008 — US Internet users can be counted in the hundreds of millions. eMarketer (http://www.emarketer.com) projects that this year there will be 193.9 million US Internet users—about two-thirds of the population. By 2012, nearly 217 million Americans will be online, or about 71% of the population.

Not only are Americans online, they are spending a lot of time online. According to the USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future, on average US Internet users spent 15.3 hours a week online last year, and that is up from 8.9 hours in 2006. Furthermore, the study found that children ages 8 to 14 are online nearly two hours a day, and 45% of young adults ages 18 to 24 spend three or more hours a day online.

”The thing marketers have to remember when looking at online users, however,” says Lisa Phillips, eMarketer Senior Analyst and author of the new report, US Online Population, “is that the US Internet population differs from the general population in age, race/ethnicity, income and education levels.” Gender is the only measure that closely matches the general population, with slightly more females than males online.

“eMarketer (http://www.emarketer.com) estimates that on the Internet, females consistently make up almost 52% of the population versus 48% males,” says Ms. Phillips. “And we foresee that ratio remaining constant at least through 2011.”

”On the other hand, the racial make-up of the US Internet population does differ slightly from the general population,” says Ms. Phillips.

Non-Hispanic whites, for example, comprise about 66% of the US population in 2008, but are 72.4% of the online population. Likewise, Asian Americans account for about 4.5% of the general population, but are 6% of all US Internet users.

By contrast, African Americans represent nearly 13% of the general population, but make up just 11.2% of the online population, and Hispanics (who can be of any race) are about 15% of the general population compared to just 10.4% of the online one.

”Marketers looking to create effective online ads need to focus on the demographic features of the US Internet population,” says Ms. Phillips. “Knowing the market specifics of size, gender, age, race and ethnicity, income and education is the only way to make smart targeting decisions.”

Find specifics you need to know, download the new eMarketer report, US Online Population, today.

INTERNET USAGE USA VS CHINA
There are now more Internet users in China than the U.S. Continued economic growth and improved broadband infrastructure have driven the number of Internet users in China to new heights. In January this year China was on track to becoming the largest online community in the world. It’s now happened - China has more Internet users than the United States, according to Beijing research firm BDA. BDA’s estimate was based on February’s data from the China Internet Network Information Center (CINIC) that put the country’s online population at 220 million. The United States’ Internet population was estimated to be 217 million during the same period, putting it behind China for the first time. Based on these sources and the assumption that these markets have continued to grow in 2008 to date at the same rates that they grew in 2007, the conclusion is that China has surpassed the United States as the world's largest Internet population.

NEWSPAPER READER USAGE
Younger news readers aren’t reading newspapers. The generation gap for newspapers continues to grow, and that is not good news for marketers focused on print publications. According to a recent comScore report, younger news readers are not getting their news fixes from newspapers. They are reading news online.

This is another indication that newspapers need to do something innovative to draw in new readers; it is also an indicator that marketers may want to focus their budgets into two distinct groups: one focused to young, online readers and one focused to older, print readers.

Researchers surveyed 400 news readers; they found that about half of those aged 18 through 44 were heavy news consumers but very few were newspaper readers. Instead, these readers are getting their news, for free, from online sources. They read online versions of their local papers and national papers as well as news and political blogs. Television news websites are also popular destination points.

The older generation, aged 45 through 65+ are also heavy news consumers but most of this group gets their news from the local paper.

For newspapers the news is discouraging and clearly points to a need to revamp what newspapers provide or offer their readership. For marketers this indicates that ad buying needs to change. Making a single across-the-board buy for a local paper is not going to cut it. Instead, ads should be purchased according to the readership. Ads placed in the paper should be targeted to older readers. Different ads should be created and placed in online venues.