The U.S. is No. 1 in hours surfing the internet
By Heidi Dawley Nov 25, 2008
When it comes to technology and media use, Americans tend to think they're ahead of the rest of the world, and indeed in some areas they are, such as in time spent online and TV shows watched via the internet.
But there are a lot of areas where Americans actually fall well down the list. And in fact, when it comes to firsts, no one country is dominant. Those honors are divided up pretty broadly among the developed nations.
That's the finding of a new study by Britain’s Office of Communications of the $1.4 trillion global communications market that compared the tech-savviness of 12 developed countries and four rapidly developing countries: Brazil, India, Russia and China.
Looked at together, the countries have seen huge advancements. Between 2002 and 2007, the share of households with broadband connections rose from just 12 percent to some 56 percent.
Yet levels of adoption varied widely even among developed nations. The Netherlands has the highest share at 81 percent, with Canada next a 66 percent and Sweden third at 62 percent. The U.S. was No. 4 at 61 percent.
In DVR ownership, Britain is out front, with 30 percent of Brits saying they have one, compared to just 20 percent of Americans.
But when it comes to internet radio, France leads with some 37 percent saying they listen to radio online. The U.S. is well behind at just 25 percent.
Looking at next-generation broadband networks, Japan dominates.
Some 85 percent of Japanese households are able to connect to the internet through high-speed fiber optic lines that connect directly to their building, versus the much slower copper wire that create the last link between the street and the home for the vast majority of households around the world.
Where Americans lead is in time spent online--about 15 hours per week in 2007 to Britain's 14 hours a week--and TV shows watched online--26 shows a week per person and well ahead of Britain's eight, in large part because of the popularity of free online access through Hulu and other sites in the U.S. and the BBC’s iPlayer in Britain.
But Canadians dominate in social networking, with some 55 percent of internet users saying they visited a social network in 2007, compared to 50 percent of British internet users and 40 percent of Americans.
Overall, the study found that more women surf than men.
Italy is tops in terms of the percentage of all surfers that are women. Some 56 percent of surfers are women. Japan and Spain are next at 55 percent each. In Britain and France the split is 50/50, while in the U.S. just 48 percent of surfers are women.
When it comes to cell phone usage the Irish were the chattiest.
People in the Republic of Ireland spent 179 minutes a month on calls in 2007. The Netherlands and Sweden were next at 176 and 144 minutes per month.
People in the Republic of Ireland also sent the most text messages, firing off 154 a month. That compares to 107 for Americans.
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Meanwhile, in online ratings for the week ended Nov. 16, according to Nielsen Online, Google claimed the top spot among parent companies, followed by Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL LLC and News Corp. Online. For the third straight week, the top five brands were Google, Yahoo, MSN/Windows Live, Microsoft and AOL Media Network.
Deutsche Telekom AG claimed the top advertiser spot for the second straight week with 3.53 million impressions, with Experian Group Limited second at 1.37 million. With 16.86 million ads served, Yahoo was again the top advertising site, well ahead of No. 2 MSN at 1.93 million.
Sessions per person per week were up one from the previous week to 17, and domains visited per person were up one to 42. PC time per person was up 3 percent compared with the previous week to 18 hours and 59 minutes.
Top 25 parent companies Through Nov. 16
#
Parent
Unique Audience (000)
Reach %
Time Spent per Person (hh:mm:ss)
1
Google
97,102
68.3
0:42:34
2
Microsoft
87,451
61.5
0:50:36
3
Yahoo!
81,555
57.4
1:08:28
4
AOL LLC
52,214
36.7
1:26:40
5
News Corp. Online
43,914
30.9
0:42:30
6
eBay
33,149
23.3
0:55:39
7
InterActiveCorp
29,879
21.0
0:10:45
8
Amazon
29,021
20.4
0:13:39
9
Wikimedia Foundation
26,204
18.4
0:10:00
10
Apple Computer
25,555
18.0
0:39:07
11
CBS Corporation
25,100
17.7
0:10:49
12
New York Times Company
24,443
17.2
0:10:39
13
Turner Network (Division)
23,874
16.8
0:20:47
14
Facebook
23,736
16.7
1:02:03
15
Walt Disney Internet Group
23,675
16.7
0:22:10
16
Landmark Communications
19,129
13.5
0:11:27
17
AT&T Inc.
18,424
13.0
0:20:14
18
RealNetworks, Inc.
15,525
10.9
0:17:58
19
Wal-Mart Stores
14,272
10.0
0:09:45
20
Verizon Communications
13,914
9.8
0:18:28
21
Comcast Corp.
13,814
9.7
0:27:56
22
Viacom Digital
13,659
9.6
0:25:31
23
Glam Media
13,581
9.6
0:09:38
24
CraigsList
13,356
9.4
0:37:06
25
Time Warner (Division)
12,704
8.9
0:10:39
Source: Nielsen Online
Top 25 brands Through Nov. 16
Parent
Unique Audience (000)
Reach %
Time spent per person (hh:mm:ss)
1
Google
88,739
62.4
0:30:41
2
Yahoo!
80,272
56.5
1:09:04
3
MSN/Windows Live
66,060
46.5
0:50:05
4
Microsoft
55,772
39.2
0:19:55
5
AOL Media Network
52,214
36.7
1:26:40
6
YouTube
39,131
27.5
0:30:38
7
Fox Interactive Media
36,705
25.8
0:44:04
8
eBay
26,392
18.6
0:59:43
9
Wikipedia
25,999
18.3
0:10:02
10
Apple
25,555
18.0
0:39:07
11
Amazon
24,561
17.3
0:12:34
12
Facebook
23,736
16.7
1:02:03
13
Ask Search Network
20,588
14.5
0:09:58
14
Blogger
19,942
14.0
0:06:46
15
CNN Digital Network
18,034
12.7
0:20:00
16
Weather Channel
16,850
11.9
0:12:06
17
About.com
16,138
11.4
0:03:16
18
Real Network
15,525
10.9
0:17:57
19
AT&T
14,721
10.4
0:22:38
20
Glam Media
13,581
9.6
0:09:38
21
Craigslist
13,356
9.4
0:37:06
22
Wal-Mart Stores
12,083
8.5
0:09:48
23
Bank of
America
11,675
8.2
0:20:19
24
Target
10,917
7.7
0:06:06
25
Comcast
9,751
6.9
0:36:35
Source: Nielsen Online
Top 25 advertisers (excludes house ads)
Through Nov. 16
#
Company
Impressions (000)
1
Deutsche Telekom AG
3,534,158
2
Experian Group Limited
1,367,866
3
Scottrade, Inc.
1,123,529
4
AT&T Corp.
944,265
5
NexTag, Inc.
801,837
6
Sprint Corporation
795,667
7
Apollo Group, Inc.
749,147
8
General Motors Corporation
693,171
9
Vonage Holdings Corp
692,257
10
Netflix, Inc.
620,302
11
InterActiveCorp
608,560
12
E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corp.
543,037
13
United Online, Inc.
538,093
14
HSBC Holdings plc
506,605
15
Avon Products, Inc.
496,275
16
Ford Motor Company
457,655
17
Verizon Communications, Inc.
437,608
18
TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation
390,062
19
Bank of America Corporation
343,612
20
National Council on Problem Gambling
339,347
21
Monster Worldwide, Inc.
331,409
22
Fandango, Inc.
329,410
23
True
301,890
24
Morgan Stanley
299,500
25
eBay, Inc.
288,664
Source: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance
Note: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance service estimated online advertising expenditures account for CPM-based image-based advertising. All reported estimated expenditures and impressions do not account for the following placement types: text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream ("pre-rolls") players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns. AdRelevance currently does not report estimated spending for paid search advertising. Also, Nielsen Online, AdRelevance reporting data reflects advertising activity served on pages accessible via the World Wide Web and not within AOL's proprietary service.
Top 25 advertising sites (excludes house ads)
Through Nov. 16
Company
Impressions (000)
1
Yahoo!
16,858,701
2
MSN
1,934,533
3
MSNBC
1,458,056
4
MySpace
1,273,462
5
Comcast.net
1,163,791
6
AOL.com
1,161,650
7
FOXNEWS.COM
858,413
8
Facebook
838,250
9
eBay
608,609
10
IMDb
604,589
11
CNBC
508,983
12
The Weather Channel
469,070
13
Perezhilton.com
427,342
14
Juno
402,427
15
New York Times
368,244
16
Photobucket
334,702
17
ESPN.com
310,508
18
CNN Money
306,015
19
NeoPets
293,239
20
Amazon
284,502
21
NetZero
275,453
22
Pogo
261,193
23
Charter.net
237,127
24
Tagged
224,022
25
CNN
215,129
Source: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance
Note: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance service estimated online advertising expenditures account for CPM-based image-based advertising. All reported estimated expenditures and impressions do not account for the following placement types: text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream ("pre-rolls") players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns. AdRelevance currently does not report estimated spending for paid search advertising. Above data does not include any house advertising activity. Also, Nielsen Online, AdRelevance reporting data reflects advertising activity served on pages accessible via the World Wide Web and not within AOL's proprietary service.
