AOL Surpasses 17 Million Members
April 14, 1999 08:30 AM
DULLES, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 14, 1999--
Key Usage Metrics Underscore Dramatic Growth
America Online, Inc. AOL , the world's leading interactive services company, today announced that worldwide membership of its AOL service has exceeded 17 million.
AOL members currently are averaging 55 minutes online daily, nearly a 10-minute increase over a year ago. AOL now supports more than 1.1 million members using the service at the same time during peak hours-- roughly double the prime time cable television audiences of CNBC and CNN. This marks a 63% increase in simultaneous users compared to last year.
Similarly, the service's other key usage metrics show the same strong growth compared to one year ago (reported on an average daily basis):
1999 1998
E-mails Sent 56 million 28 million
Instant Messages 432 million 200 million
Stock Quotes 121 million 75 million
Web URLs Served 2.6 billion 800 million
Bob Pittman, America Online's President and Chief Operating Officer, said: "Our strong brand momentum and increased value to members continue to drive AOL's rapid membership growth. Our prime time audience now matches or exceeds many major cable TV networks.
"AOL members continue to increase their average daily time online -- doing more e-mailing, sending more Instant Messages, checking more stock quotes and making more online purchases, among other things-- as AOL becomes more central to our members' everyday lives."
Mr. Pittman added: "We are grateful that so many people have opted to join AOL, and we are committed to continually enhancing the AOL experience for our members.
"Over the past several weeks, we have added such new member benefits as our new Kids Only channel, our even more comprehensive Tax Area, and a new women's weekly online talk show hosted by Meredith Vieira, and we're on track to add even more member benefits, like online calendaring and our customized eBay site."
About America Online
Founded in 1985, America Online, Inc., based in Dulles, Virginia, is the world's leader in interactive services, Web brands, Internet technologies, and e-commerce services.
America Online, Inc. operates: two worldwide Internet services, America Online, with more than 17 million members, and CompuServe, with approximately 2 million members; several leading Internet brands including ICQ and Digital City, Inc.; the Netscape Netcenter and AOL.COM portals; and the Netscape Navigator and Communicator browsers.
Through its strategic alliance with Sun Microsystems, the Company develops and offers easy-to-deploy, end-to-end e-commerce and enterprise solutions for companies operating in the Net Economy.
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