First-time Data On NZ Internet Audience Activity
Nielsen//NetRatings Releases First-time Data On Internet Audience Activity In New Zealand
New Zealanders Spend An Average Seven Hours Per Month Surfing The Web At Home
AUCKLAND - May 2, 2000 - For the first time, New
Zealand companies have reliable information about how kiwis
use the Internet. The first full month of New Zealand
Internet usage data was released today by
Nielsen//NetRatings, the global Internet audience
measurement service launched by ACNielsen eRatings.com. The
New Zealand audience information is based on a
representative panel sample of 2,850 home Internet users,
the first Internet audience real-time measurement research
panel in the country.
Topline findings indicate that
MSN, Xtra and Yahoo! are the most popular sites by domain
(see Table 1). Other findings identify ‘Baby Boomers’ in
the 35-49 age bracket as the heaviest Internet users and the
weekend as the most popular days to surf the web.
“At
first glance, the strength of international domains like MSN
and Yahoo! in a country like New Zealand could be seen as a
sign of US companies cornering the worldwide market,” says
Brian Milnes, managing director, Pacific region, ACNielsen
eRatings.com. “Digging deeper, both MSN and Yahoo! have
risen to the top in global markets, including New Zealand,
by carefully developing relationships and partnerships with
local content providers, then adding value-added
applications, such as free email, online communities and
searching capabilities to provide a well-rounded local
package. Yahoo! has tackled the local/global issue by using
its model of aggregating the best local and international
information and adding its easy-to-navigate interface and
personalisation tools to create a strong local presence.
Local partnerships are key for US based portals in
establishing an Internet presence in these
countries.
“Two of our top five domains, Xtra and
Xtrasite, are local and are doing extremely well. Xtra
inverts the Yahoo! model. Its success is based on the
strength of local content, and value-added applications,
supplemented by international resources.” (Xtra and
Xtrasite are detailed separately as visitors can be directed
to one or two dedicated servers. These numbers cannot be
combined as the majority of visitors between the two domains
were almost completely duplicated during the
month.)
While the US is experiencing an equal split of
male to female Internet users, men account for 55 percent of
the audience profile in New Zealand. Men in New Zealand
also spent an average of nearly eight hours surfing the net
in March, with women spending an average of just over six
hours. The average time spent across both sexes was seven
hours for the month, and 32 minutes during each surfing
session.
“The habits of Kiwi surfers stack up well
against those of American counterparts,” says Milnes.
“America is a sophisticated and mature market compared with
New Zealand and yet the kiwi appetite for new technology
shows through in statistics like the average duration of a
surfing session and the number of pages viewed per session
per month, where the New Zealand results are comparable to
the US.”
A number of major organisations from advertising
agencies to traditional businesses and pureplays have
already subscribed to the Nielsen//NetRatings service in New
Zealand, including 7am.com, Bank of New Zealand, Walkers
Advertising, Xtra, Television New Zealand, Independent
Newspapers Limited, Quicken.co.nz, Webmasters and ACP New
Zealand.
“There’s huge demand for this data,” adds
Milnes. “Businesses need an independent, high quality
service that assesses how well their online businesses are
performing. Advertisers and media buyers need to know who
goes on what site and for how long. Nielsen//NetRatings’
data delivers tremendous competitive advantage to its
users.”
Nielsen//NetRatings is the world’s first global
panel-based service for tracking audiences, advertising and
user activity on the Internet. The service is provided by
ACNielsen eRatings.com, a venture between ACNielsen, the
world’s leading market research firm, and NetRatings, a
leading Internet audience measurement technology and
analysis company.
The data released today is based on
information derived from tracking the activity of 2,850 home
Internet users across New Zealand during March as they
surfed the Web, moved within sites and were exposed to ad
banners. ACNielsen eRatings.com announced the
Nielsen//NetRatings service in New Zealand in November 1999
and has rapidly established the panel in the months since
using a high-quality, random digit dial methodology.
In
total, Nielsen//NetRatings Internet measurement panels
currently involve 95,000 individuals under real-time
measurement in the US, New Zealand, Australia, the UK,
Ireland, Singapore, and Japan. All panellists outside the
US have been recruited in less than four months, following
the same high-quality standards and mirroring the rapid
growth of the US panel, which grew from 6,000 individuals in
February 1999 to more than 50,000 current at-home and
at-work panellists.
The service’s comprehensive reporting
includes summary information on overall home Internet use,
including sites most visited and the leading advertisers.
Extensive audience demographic data is provided on a summary
basis as well as by specific Internet domains and by
property, which is a composite of a company’s various
domains. Nielsen//NetRatings also captures and displays
actual ad banners, and provides demographic reports on the
people viewing each banner.
“The comprehensive analysis
available through Nielsen//NetRatings will enable site
publishers, advertisers and agencies to track audience
exposure to Internet ads, target specific demographic
groups, undertake extensive campaign analysis and analyse
competitors’ advertising and campaigns,” says Milnes.
“Nielsen//NetRatings combines the ingredients essential
to Internet research – excellent measurement technology, a
powerful sample representing New Zealand home Internet
users, and timely data reporting through a powerful on-line
system.”
Table 1. Nielsen//NetRatings Top 10 Sites by
Domain*, March 2000
NEW ZEALAND, March
2000
Domain Unique Audience Time Per Person
(hrs:min:sec)
msn.com 256,571 0:37:18
Xtra.co.nz 219,289 0:13:53
Yahoo.com 193,729 0:57:34
Microsoft.com 147,196 0:10:35
Xtrasite.co.nz 139,892 0:05:44
Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings, at home panel, March 2000
* Note: A
domain is a consolidation of multiple URLs
Table 2. Comparable Summary of Australia, New Zealand & US Internet statistics for March 2000
US
NZ
Internet Universe
(All
individuals aged 2+ who have access to the
Internet)
129.7 million
1.2
million
Active
Internet
(All individuals aged 2+ who accessed the
Internet during the reporting period)
82
million
565 thousand
Number of Surfing Sessions per person per month
19
16
Number of Pages viewed per person per month
670
462
Number of Pages viewed per surfing session per person
31
29
Duration of surfing session (in minutes)
31
30
ACNielsen eRatings.com is a venture between ACNielsen (NYSE:ART) and NetRatings (NASDAQ:NTRT). ACNielsen is the global leader in delivering market research, information and analysis to the consumer products and services industries, and 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.
###
Glossary of terms
Internet Universe all members
(two years of age or older) of households which currently
have access to the Internet
Active Internet Universe all
members of the Internet Universe who actually use the
Internet during the period
URL web site address (e.g.
www.acnielsen.co.nz)
Domain a group of websites and pages
that end with the same.domain-name plus ".co.nz" or ".com"
The domain includes all the web pages that are under that
domain (e.g. yahoo.com, msn.com)
Property a
consolidation of multiple domains and URLs owned by the
listed property. Property is usually the highest level of
aggregation. (e.g. Yahoo!, MSN)
Unique Site a unique
URL (e.g. www.acnielsen.com, www.yahoo.com, www.bbc.co.uk)
At-home Internet audience panel monitoring usage at home
(rather than ‘at work’)
Editors’ note:
Visit
www.nielsen-netratings.com for further information on the
Nielsen//NetRatings service. Find out more about ACNielsen
on
www.acnielsen.com