9:56 pm Eastern Time
Nielsen survey shows October Web
traffic rebound
By Monica Summers
NEW YORK, Nov 16 (Reuters) - The average amount of
time U.S. Internet users spent on major Web sites rose 9.3
percent to more than eight hours in October from September, a
study said Tuesday, in a sign that Internet use was rebounding
from seasonal softness during the summer and early fall months.
Nielsen/NetRatings, an Internet measurement service from
Nielsen Media Research Inc. (NYSE:NMR - news) and
NetRatings Inc., said its monthly study of the top 25 Web sites
showed a recovery in visitor traffic after a downtick between
August and September.
Christmas came early for online retailers, as the top three toy sites enjoyed a more than 100
percent jump in visitors in October, the survey found.
Traffic to KBKids.com, the online arm of Consolidated Stores Corp. (NYSE:CNS - news)
jumped 246 percent, the Toys R Us Inc. (NYSE:TOY - news) Web site
(http://www.toysrus.com) increased 121 percent, and the number of users to eToys Inc.
(NasdaqNM:ETYS - news) rose 110 percent.
Recently, industry analysts had voiced their concern that signs of a decrease in Web usage could
signal slowing U.S. growth in the Internet economy, although most agree that such data may not
be comprehensive enough to see the full picture.
America Online Inc.'s (NYSE:AOL - news) network of Web sites held on to its No. 1 spot
among most visited Web sites for October with more than 40 million visitors, up more than 3
million from September.
Both Yahoo! Inc. (NasdaqNM:YHOO - news), Microsoft Corp.'s (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news)
MSN, and Lycos Inc. (NasdaqNM:LCOS - news) saw proportional gains in October over
September, hanging on to their respective rankings as the No. 2, 3 and 4 most-visited Internet
networks.
Several Web networks saw more considerable increases in October traffic, including Web
gateway service Xoom.com Inc. (NasdaqNM:XMCM - news) with a 30 percent jump in traffic.
Xoom is in the process of being merged into the Internet network of media company NBC, a unit
of General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE - news).
Other rapid gainers included Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE:TWX - news) network, which posted a
24 percent monthly jump, and online greeting card service Blue Mountain Arts, also up 24
percent.
Nielsen/NetRatings said overall usage in October increased 9.3 percent from September, when
surfers were online for about 7 hours and 31 minutes. In August, the average person spent about
7 hours and 49 minutes online, it said.
The market research venture also said the number of U.S. households who went online in
October jumped to 67.8 million from 65 million.
The study estimated that the size of the Internet universe, or people who have Web access but
don't necessarily go online, jumped to 113 million over 110 million previously.
The study also found that men continue to have a lead over women in Web usage, with men
spending an hour-and-a-half longer online than women do each month.
More Quotes
and News:
NYSE:NMR - news
America Online Inc (NYSE:AOL - news)
Consolidated Stores Corp (NYSE:CNS - news)
eToys Inc (NasdaqNM:ETYS - news)
General Electric Co (NYSE:GE - news)
Lycos Inc (NasdaqNM:LCOS - news)
Microsoft Corp (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news)
Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX - news)
Toys R Us Inc (NYSE:TOY - news)
XOOM.com Inc (NasdaqNM:XMCM - news)
Yahoo Inc (NasdaqNM:YHOO - news)
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