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Monday September 23 8:19 AM EDT
More U.S. Households Now Access the Internet Through Internet
Service Providers Than Through Commercial Online Services
Six Months Ago, Consumers Were More Likely to Access the Internet Via Proprietary Online Services
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 23, 1996--Odyssey's latest Homefront study, the largest in-depth national survey tracking the home computing market, revealed that more U.S. households are now accessing the Internet through an Internet service provider (ISP) than through a commercial online service.
According to the Odyssey Homefront survey released today, 48 percent of households surfing the Internet from home are using an ISP, while 35 percent use a commercial online service for Internet access. That's quite a change from Odyssey's previous Homefront study six months ago when 54 percent of at-home Internet surfers used commercial online services to access the Internet and only 30 percent used ISPs.
The Homefront survey is conducted twice a year by Odyssey, an independent market research firm dedicated to understanding consumers and technology.
Commercial Online Services
Fourteen percent of U.S. households are now online. And the Internet is changing the way consumers evaluate and select a commercial online service. When asked to choose between quality of access to the Internet and quality of proprietary content, 41 percent chose quality of access to the Internet while only 29 percent deemed
quality of the online service's proprietary content more important.
The importance of proprietary content is clearly decreasing. Six months ago 37 percent chose content over Internet access.
Odyssey President Nick Donatiello explained that online service providers have not risen to the challenge posed by ISPs. "Commercial online services have to convince consumers that they are better on some dimension that's important, if not proprietary content, then ease-of-use, or content packaging, or customization,
or something," Donatiello said.
"Pathetically slow Internet gateways and pricing schemes that seem to ignore the fact that they are now competing directly with ISPs just make it harder."
Donatiello believes the online services market is ripe for a reshuffling. "Only America Online has gained in market share," he explained. "And none of the commercial online services has improved in image. In fact, the images of MSN and Prodigy have declined."
Commercial Online Services
(Percent of PC households)
Online Service July 1996 Jan. 1996 July 1995 Jan. 1995 July 1994
America Online 18% 14% 13% 5% 4%
CompuServe 5% 6% 6% 4% 5%
Prodigy 4% 5% 7% 8% 10%
MSN 1% 1%
WOW! 1%
ISP Market Extremely Fragmented
The Homefront survey also revealed that the consumer market for ISPs is extremely fragmented, especially compared to the market for commercial online services, which is dominated by a handful of players.
Even the most popular ISP among consumers at home, Netcom, has only captured 8 percent of the ISP market. AT&T/WorldNet, the second most popular service, attracts 7 percent and MCI and PSI/Pipeline have 4 percent each. The rest of the market is divided among a myriad of smaller players.
Battle of the Browsers
On the browser front, Odyssey's Homefront survey indicated that Netscape currently leads in the battle for at-home surfers. The Netscape Navigator is more popular than Microsoft's Internet Explorer, with 54 percent of households surfing the Internet using the Netscape version, compared to 6 percent using the Microsoft
browser.
In terms of image, 48 percent of those who have heard of Netscape Navigator rate it "very good," while 25 percent of those aware of Microsoft Internet Explorer gave it the same rating.
About Odyssey
Odyssey is the nation's only independent market research firm dedicated exclusively to studying the complex and changing relationship between consumers, technology and at-home information and entertainment. The Homefront survey seeks to understand what is really happening in homes with personal computers, and is designed to provide reliable hard data on this important market.
Research is based on interviews with 2,000 consumers. The random-digit-dial, computer-generated sample closely matches the U.S. census and is representative of all U.S. households.
In addition to Homefront, each year Odyssey conducts the largest and most comprehensive research study of consumers and new media. This massive research effort includes a national survey of 4,500 consumers in addition to in-depth, one-on-one, in-person interviews and focus groups in various regions of the country.
The objective is to determine the relevant market segments and understand what is going to motivate consumers to adopt new media products and services.
Odyssey is based in San Francisco. For additional information, press may contact Marivi Lerdo or Jacqueline Lewis at 415/968-4033. Companies interested in purchasing Odyssey's research can reach the company at
800/742-1792.
CONTACT: Edelman Public Relations
Marivi Lerdo de Tejada or Jacqueline Lewis
415/968-4033
marivi@sv.edelman.com
jlewis@sv.edelman.com |
