Most single people will tell you there’s a world of difference between them and married folk, but one place where this is most obvious is when shopping on the web.

   Harried marrieds, especially those with kids, find online shopping a necessity, meaning fewer trips to the store dragging along the children.

   Singles, on the other hand, prefer spending their online time socializing. They are less likely to make online purchases than married people, and when they do those buys usually relate to entertainment or financial services, according to a new study from Nielsen//NetRatings.

   The study found that married people were 10 percent more likely to make an online purchase than the average surfer. More than 52 percent had made one in the period studied, compared to 47 percent of singles.

   Among the most popular e-commerce destinations for marrieds were those selling drugs and prescriptions and those offering home improvement items.

   Third-most popular was computer software/educational, with gardening supplies and tools fourth and toys and noncomputer games fifth, reflecting children’s interests.

   For singles, on the other hand, financial purchases ranked near the top. Student loans and credit card items were the most popular.

   Third were video games, fourth was gaming computer software and fifth was music.

   Just as distinctive were the favorite online non-e-commerce sites for married and single people. Not one site overlapped between the two groups’ top 10.

   Dating sites filled seven of the top 10 most popular for singles. Match.com had the highest concentration of single users with 82 percent, and singles were 152 percent more likely to have visited the site than their married counterparts.

   Married people preferred family or child-oriented sites, which filled six of their top 10 spots. Familyfun.com was the site with the highest concentration of married users at 85 percent.

   For the week ending Oct. 26, the supernatural was a big draw on the web. National Geographic recorded a 222 percent jump in at-home visitors, reaching 847,000. Almost 92 percent of surfers clicked on the article entitled “Forensic Expert Says Bigfoot Is Real.”

   Yet another net sweepstakes also drew surfers, as at-home traffic to the DIY Network site surged 61 percent to 342,000. Many visited the DIY Network Ultimate Kitchen Remodel sweepstakes page.

Top 25 parent companies Through Oct. 26
#	Parent	Unique Audience  (000)	Reach %	Time spent per person (hh:mm:ss)
1	Microsoft	52,841	53.0	0:34:23
2	AOL Time Warner	48,498	48.6	1:56:34
3	Yahoo!	42,046	42.1	0:46:39
4	Google	19,586	19.6	0:07:14
5	eBay	16,368	16.4	0:43:39
6	United States Government	9,468	9.5	0:09:57
7	RealNetworks	8,661	8.7	0:18:04
8	Terra Lycos	8,576	8.6	0:06:10
9	Amazon	7,935	8.0	0:10:02
10	Excite Network	7,444	7.5	0:16:01
11	InterActiveCorp	6,858	6.9	0:14:41
12	About-Primedia	6,483	6.5	0:07:40
13	Walt Disney Internet Group	6,431	6.4	0:11:24
14	Viacom International	6,117	6.1	0:16:28
15	EarthLink	5,519	5.5	0:32:15
16	United Online	5,445	5.5	0:53:31
17	Landmark Communications	5,381	5.4	0:04:54
18	WhenU	5,271	5.3	0:05:18
19	AWS Convergence Technologies	4,763	4.8	0:06:30
20	The Gator Corporation	4,252	4.3	0:01:52
21	Apple Computer	4,216	4.2	0:04:13
22	Sharman Networks	4,026	4.0	0:38:43
23	Electronic Arts	3,943	4.0	1:14:07
24	eUniverse	3,895	3.9	0:06:31
25	CNET Networks	3,672	3.7	0:05:53
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings

 

Top 25 brands Through Oct. 26
#	Parent	Unique Audience (000)	Reach %	Time spent  per person (hh:mm:ss)
1	MSN	44,457	44.6	0:32:20
2	Yahoo!	42,038	42.1	0:46:39
3	AOL	37,683	37.8	2:20:37
4	Microsoft	35,739	35.8	0:10:35
5	Google	19,410	19.5	0:07:12
6	eBay	15,714	15.8	0:42:27
7	Real	8,577	8.6	0:17:43
8	Lycos Network	8,123	8.1	0:05:57
9	Amazon	7,145	7.2	0:09:20
10	Netscape	6,546	6.6	0:10:01
11	About Network	6,065	6.1	0:07:37
12	Weather Channel	5,202	5.2	0:04:43
13	WhenU	5,172	5.2	0:05:23
14	EarthLink	4,815	4.8	0:34:59
15	MapQuest	4,791	4.8	0:06:54
16	WeatherBug.com	4,698	4.7	0:06:28
17	CNN	4,559	4.6	0:09:15
18	Gator Network	4,252	4.3	0:01:52
19	Apple	4,216	4.2	0:04:13
20	KaZaA	4,026	4.0	0:38:43
21	EA Online	3,943	4.0	1:14:07
22	eUniverse	3,895	3.9	0:06:31
23	Comcast	3,483	3.5	0:15:37
24	Dell	3,393	3.4	0:07:39
25	AT&T	3,351	3.4	0:16:46
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings

 

Top 25 advertisers (excludes house ads) Through Oct. 26
#	Company	Impressions (000)
1	Dell Computer Corporation	695,858
2	Schering-Plough Corporation	661,083
3	NetFlix, Inc.	583,228
4	AT&T Wireless Services, Inc.	533,900
5	Ameriquest Mortgage Company	466,815
6	Apollo Group, Inc.	366,762
7	InterActiveCorp	350,372
8	Bank One Corporation	350,088
9	Classmates Online, Inc.	306,526
10	AOL Time Warner Inc.	303,164
11	LowerMyBills.com, Inc.	301,789
12	Ameritrade Holding Corporation	301,024
13	Viacom Inc	266,003
14	Amazon.com, Inc.	241,101
15	Sony Corporation	239,811
16	Orbitz	238,048
17	Citigroup Inc.	228,019
18	General Motors Corporation	213,815
19	SBC Communications, Inc.	213,693
20	Hewlett Packard Company	211,597
21	Yahoo! Inc.	208,337
22	Sabre Holdings Inc.	204,658
23	TD Bank Financial Group	191,420
24	Scottrade, Inc.	190,147
25	Agora Media, Inc	183,487
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance

 

Top 25 advertising sites (excludes house ads) Through Oct. 26
#	Company	Impressions (000)
1	Yahoo!	5,430,192
2	MSN	3,329,760
3	eBay	810,921
4	iWon	747,920
5	Netscape	651,589
6	ESPN.com	458,452
7	CNN	411,988
8	Excite	396,841
9	MSNBC	347,117
10	Juno	342,218
11	Classmates	316,348
12	The Weather Channel	276,039
13	EarthLink	256,720
14	The New York Times	255,459
15	NetZero	254,367
16	AT&T Worldnet	232,935
17	Pogo	210,891
18	AOL.com	186,090
19	Realtor.com	183,514
20	CBS SportsLine	165,415
21	AutoTrader.com	156,104
22	Lycos	125,857
23	CBS MarketWatch	122,742
24	TV Guide	115,398
25	Newsmax	108,011
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance

 

Average use Through Oct. 26
		Current Week	Last Week	% Change
	Number of Sessions/Visits per Week	9	9	0.00
	Number of Domains Visited per Week	22	22	0.00
	Time Spent per Week	7:51:12	7:50:45	0.10
	Time Spent During Web Visit	0:33:11	0:33:05	0.30
	Active Digital Media Universe	100,037,300	100,603,393	-0.56
	Current Digital Media Universe Estimate	185,130,327	185,130,303	0.00
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings