ODYSSEY STUDY: AOL Widens Its Lead In The Online Services Market; Excite And
Infoseek Make Headway In Their Race To Catch Up To Leader Yahoo
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 28, 1998--Odyssey's latest
Homefront study, the largest in-depth national survey tracking the
home computing market, today revealed two shifts in the competition
for online consumers. According to Odyssey's research, AOL is
continuing to widen its lead in the online services market while
Excite and Infoseek are slowly starting to make headway in their race
to catch up to Yahoo.
Commercial online services: Odyssey's Homefront survey reveals
that America Online's (AOL) lead in the market for online services is
continuing to widen. The percentage of PC households who subscribe to
AOL jumped to 27 percent from 20 percent in July 1997. The company's
nearest competitors lag far behind: 3 percent of PC households
subscribe to AT&T Worldnet and to Prodigy while MSN draws in a scant 2
percent.
According to the research, America Online's image among consumers
is also at an all-time high. This should come as welcome news to AOL.
The company had previously experienced dramatic declines in image
following its technical difficulties in 1996. In Odyssey's most recent
survey, the service was rated as excellent or very good by 34 percent
of PC households aware of the service, up from 21 percent in January
1998 and 18 percent in July 1997.
This improvement by AOL has also had a positive effect on online
satisfaction generally. In Odyssey's most recent survey, 32 percent of
online households indicated they were extremely satisfied with their
online service. This is significantly up from 17 percent a year ago.
According to Odyssey President Nick Donatiello, the research
findings are a wake up call to competitors. "It is clear that AOL's
performance trouble and the anger it drew from consumers are a thing
of the past," said Donatiello. "If providers like AT&T and MSN expect
to compete, they had better get moving. They missed the opportunity to
take advantage of AOL's mistakes and now AOL is widening its lead in
both penetration and image."
Internet Directories/Search Engines: Although Yahoo continues to
be the clear leader by a wide margin, in the last six months two key
competitors, Excite and Infoseek, have begun to narrow the gap in both
awareness and usage. While Yahoo's awareness has grown from 77 percent
to 83 percent of home Internet users in the last six months, the same
period of time saw substantial increases in the awareness levels of
Excite and Infoseek.
"Unlike AOL , which continues to pull away from the pack in the
online services market, Yahoo, while still enjoying a substantial
lead, now finds itself up against much stronger competitors," said
Donatiello.
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AWARENESS (Percent of online households aware of the following:)
January 1998 July 1998
YAHOO 77% 83%
EXCITE 46% 65%
INFOSEEK 48% 60%
USAGE (Percent of online households who use the following at least
occasionally:)
January 1998 July 1998
YAHOO 53% 63%
EXCITE 25% 38%
INFOSEEK 25% 32%
*T
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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 entertainment
and information. 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 2,500 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 6,000 consumers
supported by qualitative research in various regions of the country.
The objective is to determine the relevant market segments for at-home
entertainment, information, communications, and commerce and
understand what is going to motivate consumers to adopt new media
products and services.
Odyssey is based in San Francisco, California. For additional
information, press may contact Marivi Lerdo or Rachel Lief at
415/433-5381. Companies interested in purchasing Odyssey's research
can reach the company at 800/742-1792 or via email at
info@odysseylp.com.
CONTACT:
Odyssey
Marivi Lerdo or Rachel Lief, 415/433-5381
marivi_lerdo@edelman.com or rachel_lief@edelman.com |
