429 Million People Worldwide Have Internet Access, (only 5 1/2 bil to go)
According to
Nielsen//NetRatings
Business/Technology Editors
STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 11, 2001--
Home Internet Access Dominates; Access From Other Sources Less Common
Surfers in New Zealand, Sweden Most Likely to Buy Online
Nielsen//NetRatings, the world's fastest growing Internet audience
measurement service, today released its First Quarter 2001 Global
Internet Trends report on Internet access and penetration, finding
that 429 million people have Internet access around the world.
The report measures 27 countries in North America, Europe, the
Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America.
The Q1 results showed that the US and Canada still account for the
largest proportion of the world's Internet access, with 41% of the
global audience located in those countries. Europe, the Middle East
and Africa has the second highest proportion of access, with 27% of
the world's Internet population, followed by Asia Pacific with 20%,
and trailed by Latin America with 4%.
"In terms of penetration levels, just over a quarter of European
households have Internet access via a home PC, compared to one third
of the households in Asia Pacific and nearly half of American
households," said Richard Goosey, chief of measurement science and
analytics, ACNielsen eRatings.com. "Don't expect this American
domination to last long, though. Compared to a year ago, significantly
more households in Europe and Asia Pacific now have a PC in the home
and a greater proportion of homes are making use of that PC to connect
to the Internet. Over the next twelve months, another 9% of European
households and 12% of Asia Pacific households plan on acquiring
Internet access."
Goosey also noted that Germany and the UK continue to dominate
Europe in terms of Internet access, with Germany, the UK, Italy and
France together accounting for two-thirds of the European households
with Internet access via home PC. In the first quarter of 2001,
Germany recorded the greatest increase in terms of number of
households with home Internet access. The three European countries -
Germany, the UK and Italy - with the highest number of people with
home Internet access together account for half the total European
Internet population.
In Asia Pacific, South Korea dominates in terms of the number of
households with home Internet access, alone accounting for 45% of the
number of households with home-PC access in that region. Together,
South Korea, Taiwan and Australia account for 86% of the total number
of people with home PC Internet access in that region.
The findings are from the Nielsen//NetRatings Global Internet
Trends service, a quarterly subscription service reporting key
Internet statistics and attitudes drawn from more than 40,000 surveys
conducted between January and March 2001 using consistent research
methodology. The Q1 reports cover: Austria, Belgium/Luxembourg,
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands,
Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, Australia, Hong Kong, New
Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, as well as select measures
for the US, Canada, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and Israel.
Home Access Dominant Worldwide
In both Europe and Asia Pacific, home access is a more common
source of Internet access than work based access (see Table 1). Even
for those who do have Internet access at work, home is more likely to
be the location of use of the Internet.
"Generally, home access and use of the Internet is more firmly
entrenched in the four Asian countries of Hong Kong, South Korea,
Singapore and Taiwan than in the Pacific countries of Australia and
New Zealand, where work based usage is more commonly observed than in
the Asian countries," Goosey said.
"In Europe, home access is particularly dominant in the
Netherlands and Italy, where home access rates are at least double the
work access rates. In most countries, the home access rate has
increased since the end of 2000, while work access rates tend to be
much more stable. Clearly use of the Internet at work - or elsewhere -
is not the cultural norm yet in these regions, which could impact the
growth of business-to-business commerce ventures in Europe and Asia
Pacific."
-0-
*T
Table 1. Percent of People 16+ With Current Internet Access at Home
or Work(a)
(a) Among population 16+ in households with fixed line telephone(s)
% With Internet % With Internet
Access at Home Access at Work
Australia 50 30
Austria 42 27
Belgium/Luxembourg 39 23
Denmark 58 38
Finland 49 37
France 22 17
Germany 35 22
Hong Kong 58 23
Ireland 46 25
Italy 34 14
Netherlands 56 28
New Zealand 51 31
Norway 53 38
Singapore 56 21
Spain 20 11
South Korea 57 17
Sweden 61 41
Switzerland 43 31
Taiwan 50 19
UK 46 26
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings Global Internet Trends, Q1 2001
Penetration of mobile telephones among individuals is also greater
in Asia than in the Pacific. Having household access to multiple
mobile telephones is also more common in Asia, where Hong Kong has the
highest level of household and personal penetration of mobile
telephones and has maintained that position over the past three
quarters. New Zealand has exhibited a relatively strong increase (7%)
in rate of use of a mobile telephone by people 16+ since the end of
2000. In Asia Pacific, most homes have only one source of Internet
access, though in Hong Kong and Taiwan more than one in five homes
have two or more sources of Internet access.
In Europe, half of Europeans aged 16+ have use of a mobile
telephone, a ratio that increases to three in four in Finland. The
degree of incremental access available to a household through devices
other than a home-owned PC remains relatively steady in Europe at
between 1 and 9%, with most countries in the 3 to 5% range. The UK and
Ireland are the two countries most likely to have households accessing
the Internet through sources other than a home-owned PC.
In both regions, the majority of access to the Internet through a
source other than a home PC is through a work PC, rather than through
a source such as a mobile telephone, a PalmPilot or a television.
Shopping and Buying Online is Most Common in Australia, New
Zealand, Sweden and Denmark
Nielsen//NetRatings found that in the first quarter of 2001, one
in six European adults used the Internet to seek pricing or product
information on products and services. One in 11 adults actually made a
purchase online in the same period. In Europe, Denmark, Sweden and
Switzerland led the region in terms of web-based browsing and
purchasing, while Belgium/Luxembourg, Italy and Spain had relatively
few people browsing or purchasing via the Internet (see Table 2).
Goosey noted that half the Europeans who have browsed for
information during the past six months have purchased, with browsing
to purchase rates highest in the UK, Norway and Sweden. On the other
hand, Italians and Spanish are more reluctant than other Europeans to
buy after having sought product information online. Goosey added that
only Sweden comes close to the pervasive level of online shopping in
the US, where 74% of surfers shop each month and 30% of all surfers
buy online.
In Asia Pacific, adults in Australia and New Zealand are most
likely to use the Internet to seek information about products and
services, with one in four adults in those countries using the
Internet as a source of information. Purchasing online is also most
common in Australia and New Zealand, as well as South Korea, which has
shown an increase in eCommerce activity since the fourth quarter of
2000. Only a very small proportion of people in Hong Kong, Taiwan and
Singapore have bought goods or services online.
"If a South Korean browses the Internet for information on goods
or services, he or she is much more likely to buy than is the case in
other countries," Goosey said. "Three in five South Koreans who browse
convert that investigation into a purchase. By contrast, only
one-third of adults from Hong Kong or Taiwan who browse for
information then go on to buy."
Table 2. % People (16+) Browsing for Products Online and Purchasing,
past 6 months(b)
(b) Among population 16+ in households with fixed line telephone(s)
and who have browsed the Internet for products and pricing
% People Browsing for % People
Products Online Purchasing Online
Australia 24 10
Austria 25 12
Belgium/Luxembourg 12 5
Denmark 39 16
Finland 28 11
France 12 6
Germany 22 11
Hong Kong 13 4
Ireland 17 8
Italy 10 3
Netherlands 28 11
New Zealand 29 12
Norway 24 14
Singapore 19 7
South Korea 18 11
Spain 8 3
Sweden 46 26
Switzerland 32 17
Taiwan 13 4
UK 19 11
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings Global Internet Trends, Q1 2001
*T
Nielsen//NetRatings Global Internet Trends measures more than 30
factors, including: the number of total households and people with
Internet access at home or other locations; the demographic breakdown
of the home Internet population; home PC ownership; rates of use of
home PC's for connection to the Internet; the period of time when
Internet access was acquired in a household or is expected; the number
of fixed and mobile telephones per household, and the level of online
purchasing.
About Nielsen//NetRatings
Through strategic partnerships between NetRatings, Nielsen Media
Research and ACNielsen, the Nielsen//NetRatings audience measurement
service collects real-time data from more than 225,000 individuals
with access to the Internet around the world. The U.S. panel sample
currently consists of 62,000 individuals with Internet access at home
and 8,000 individuals with Internet access at work. International
panels are under development with over 155,000 individuals with access
at home currently being measured in 26 countries, representing over
90% of global Internet browser activity.
Nielsen//NetRatings uses unique technology capable of measuring
both Internet use and advertising to provide the most timely, accurate
and comprehensive Internet usage data and advertising information in
the global marketplace. Nielsen//NetRatings tracks the entire spectrum
of Internet user behavior, leveraging proprietary data-collection
technology from NetRatings, Nielsen Media Research's 50 years of
expertise in research and audience measurement, and ACNielsen's
international leadership in offering market research information
covering more than 100 countries. For more information, please visit
www.nielsen-netratings.com.
About ACNielsen eRatings.com
ACNielsen eRatings.com is a venture between ACNielsen and
NetRatings Inc. ACNielsen, a company of VNU N.V., is the world's
leading market research firm, offering measurement and analysis of
marketplace dynamics, consumer attitudes and behavior, and new and
traditional media in more than 100 countries. NetRatings is the
leading provider of Internet audience measurement technology and
analysis. Through the Nielsen//NetRatings service, ACNielsen
eRatings.com is creating the first global service for tracking
audiences, advertising and user activity on the Internet in more than
30 countries worldwide.
About NetRatings, Inc.
NetRatings (Nasdaq: NTRT) provides Internet audience measurement
and analysis services that enable its customers to make informed
decisions regarding their Internet strategies. NetRatings delivers
accurate and timely information collected from a representative sample
of Internet users and augments it with detailed, flexible reporting
and in-depth analyses.
--30--jeh/ny*
CONTACT: ACNielsen
Rich Myers, 203/961-3324
or
NetRatings, Inc.
Jennifer Fan, 408/941-2951
KEYWORD: CONNECTICUT
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: E-COMMERCE INTERNET
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