IP: On-Line Population Reaches 24 Million In North America

[Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

 On-Line Population Reaches   24 Million In North Ameri


DJ   10/30/95 6:04 AM 




   By Jared Sandberg
   Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal


Doubters have hotly contended that the Internet's soaring growth has
been wildly inflated in the past year, but an exhaustive new study
suggests otherwise.


Some 24 million people in the U.S. and Canada alone are already on the
Internet -- fully 11% of the North American population over age 16,
according to the new survey by Dun & Bradstreet Corp.'s Nielsen Media
Research unit. An impressive 17.6 million people use the World Wide
Web, the multimedia business district on the Internet, and of those,
nearly one-quarter use the Web to peek at the on-screen displays of
their business rivals.


The study also found that women comprise about one-third of all
Internet users, far more than previously thought. And Internet users
spend an average of five hours on-line each week -- more time than TV
viewers spend with their VCRs.


The appetite for Internet numbers is enormous, given its market
potential, bu t most studies thus far have been criticized for
inflating usage. Previous survey s were based on interviewing users
on-line, rather than trying to use a nationally projectible, random
sample. Earlier studies also have relied on guesswork surrounding the
number of computers connected to the Internet.


The Nielsen study, based on interviews with more than 4,000 households,
is one of the most rigorous efforts so far to gauge usage based on a
large random sample. Its sample is large enough for the results "to be
taken seriously," said Nicholas Donatiello, president and chief
executive of research firm Odyssey Ventures Inc., an independent
research firm. The findings were consistent with his own previous
efforts, he added.


Advertisers welcomed the numbers. "It looks like Godot has arrived,"
said G.M. O'Connell, president of on-line advertisers Modem Media LP.
Old-line advertiser s have been reluctant to plunge into the on-line
market in part because of a lack of firm numbers on the audience.
"Now," he said, "they can't ignore it."


The Nielsen report was commissioned by CommerceNet, a nonprofit
consortium of high-tech companies with an interest in promoting
electronic commerce. "This is a critical argument for doing business on
the Internet," said Tom Masotto, project leader at CommerceNet.  "The
business opportunity is enormous, and we're not guessing anymore,"
added Donna Hoffman, an associate professor at Vanderbilt University's
business schoo l and a member of the project team.


While the Nielsen study found 24 million Internet users, researchers
said nearly 37 million people have access to the Internet in the U.S.
and Canada, indicating an even larger potential audience for
advertisers.


The study also found that the World Wide Web "is already a thriving
market for business applications." Roughly 2.5 million people have
purchased products or services over the Web, and users tend to be
upscale, educated professionals with a household income of more than
$80,000.


(END) DOW JONES NEWS 10-30-95
   6 00 AM


Copyright 1995 Dow Jones & Co., Inc.  All rights reserved.