Latam Internet use growing fastest in world-ad firm
MIAMI, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Use of the Internet is growing faster in Latin America than in any other part of the world, and
more women than men in the region are logging on for the first time, according to a survey released on Tuesday.
''From 1995 to 1997, usage of the 'net' has increased more than 788 percent in Latin America -- almost double the average
growth rate worldwide,'' said the study by advertising firm Nazca S&S, the Latin American arm of Saatchi & Saatchi
Worldwide.
Nazca said the survey, carried out by its own researchers, was aimed partly at determining how viable the Internet was as an
advertising medium in the region.
It said almost 900 people were interviewed over six months in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Puerto Rico.
The firm said that in the last year, new user growth was fueled primarily by women, with close to 50 percent of all female
respondents saying they were newcomers to the Internet compared to only 31 percent of men.
The survey also found that 85 percent of Latin American net surfers visited U.S. websites and 81 percent said English was not
an obstacle to their using the Internet.
''The Internet is used by those Latin Americans with purchasing power,'' the survey said, noting that 90 percent of users in the
region come from ''upper middle and high socio-economic classes.''
The firm said its survey was the first in-depth research on the Internet carried out on a regional basis.
Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide is a unit of Cordiant Plc (CRI.L). |
