World Wide Web User Statistics
There are numerous surveys trying to figure out how many people are using the Internet, when, what for,
and how.
The following information was gathered from various sources on and off the 'net.
If you feel certain criteria are missing or need updating - please feel free to drop us a note.
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In October 1996, Jupiter Communications and Find/SVP released their study, 'The American Home Financial Services Survey.' The survey
showed that 55 percent of all PC-owning households are doing some financial management on their computers, representing 9,200,000 households.
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In December 1996, a Forrester Research report entitled 'Sizing the Internet Economy,' estimated that the Internet economy will approach
$200,000,000,000 in the year 2000, up from its present $15,000,000,000 level.
The report also stated that business-to-business electronic commerce in the US alone will represent $66,000,000,000 in Internet revenues by 2000.
An estimated 33,000,000 US households will go on-line by the year 2000, and the number of businesses connected will rise from 4 percent in 1996
to 33 percent in 2000.
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In December 1996, a Simmons Market Research Bureau report entitled 'Consumer Online Usage,' estimated that 40 percent of the 25,000,000
American adults who have used the Internet or online services in the last year have made purchases on-line. It also found that of those people
who have not yet purchased on-line, 43 percent were likely to do so in the next 12 months.
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In December 1996, a PC-Meter market research study estimated that 25 percent of home Web users surveyed are visiting shopping sites.
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In September 1996, ActivMedia's latest 'The Real Numbers behind Net Profits,' claimed that, 'the top one-third of websites are having an
excellent year. Gross profits for these companies totalled $80,000,000 in June alone. However, the remaining two-thirds lost $11,000,000 , before
website launch costs.'
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In November 1996, a report by Jupiter Communications claimed that online revenue was growing by more than 80 percent per quarter.
At this rate it will exceed $300,000,000 by the end of 1996, and $5,000,000,000 by the year 2000.
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In December 1996, a Jupiter Communications briefing stated that online retail purchases are projected to reach $194,000,000 during the holiday
shopping season. This represents 41 percent of annual non travel online sales from a total of 478,000,000 for 1996.
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In April 1996, Project 2000 released a survey entitled 'Internet Use in the United States: 1995 Baseline' which found that 1,500,000 people have
used the World-Wide-Web to purchase something.
- In June 1996, Activmedia Incorporated published findings from 'The Real Numbers Behind Net Profits,' which stated that, 'The top 10 percent
of websites with products or services for sale now average more than $30,000 per month in sales, compared with only $4,800 in external
maintenance expenditures.'
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In August 1996, ActivMedia published a survey which found that June 1996 Web sales reached $130,000,000 .
Other findings: Almost 18 percent of sales, or about $23,000,000 are in exports. While American companies are doing well, 'overseas firms are
benefiting even more.'
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In November 1996, Quality Dynamics Inc. predicted that companies are increasingly turning to technology to deliver training and education.
By the year 2000, Quality Dynamics Inc. predicts that half of all corporate training will be delivered via technology. A separate study by the
Gartner Group projects the demand for technology-based training rising 10 percent a year for the next two years, to $12,000,000,000.
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In November 1996, an ActivMedia report entitled 'Secrets of Education Marketing on the WEB, claimed that educators, academic researchers
and academic institutions are key buyers for profitable Web marketers. It found that companies targeting education markets averaged sales
nearly twice those of Web marketers in general.
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In December 1996, a Netwatch report claimed that 44 percent (total poll more than 4,000) of Australians who have travelled more than three
times in the last six months have accessed the Internet. 24 percent of respondents who stated they are likely to buy a car in the next twelve
months have accessed the Internet and almost one third of regular cinema goers have accessed the Internet.
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In December 1996, an O'Reilly Associates report entitled 'The State of Web Commerce,' claimed that fewer than 1 percent of web sites are able
to host secure transactions. ORA questioned 648,613 publicly visible Web sites, and found only 3239 SSL-enabled sites that have valid
certificates from a trusted third party. In addition to solid statistical data on worldwide penetration of secure transaction technologies, the report
suggests that standards and methods for secure Web commerce are still very much in transition and development.
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In October 1996, the Travel Industry Association of America published a survey which stated that nearly half of frequent business travellers, 47
percent, use online services, and a third of frequent leisure travellers - those taking five or more trips a year -- log onto the Internet.
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In November 1996, Editor & Publisher warned that print newspapers' revenues will be badly affected by online classifieds within three years.
Since newspapers derive 37 percent of total advertising income from classifieds, this presents a threat that the print industry should take very
seriously.
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In November 1996, the first Yahoo Japan Web User Survey found that the average Yahoo Japan user is male, aged between 20 and 24, lives in the
Tokyo area, works in technology, and accesses the network from home via a 28.8 kilobits-per-second (Kbps) modem. The user market is split
87.5 male and 12.5 female - a lower than average percentage for women.
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In November 1996, sources within the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) in China, stated that there were more than 7,000
Internet users in Beijing with connections to MPT's ChinaNet, and about 40,000 in the country, and this figure is expected to reach 100,000 by the
end of 1996.
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In December 1996, a Netwatch report claimed that user growth in Australian cities had grown from 12 percent in August 1995 to 20 percent in
November 1996. Users accessing the Internet from a country location had grown from 8 percent to 13 percent. The total number of users in
Australia was found to have grown from 1.4 million in August 1995 to 2.6 million in November 1996.
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In December 1996, AGB McNair research stated that seventeen per cent of the New Zealand population aged over 10 claim to have access to
the Internet either at home, work, school or at some other location. Six percent, or 188,000 New Zealanders over the age of 10, record having used
the Internet at least once in the last month. The user population profile is still mainly upper socio-economic groups with a usage level twice that of
the rest of the population. Only one in five claim to have never heard of the Internet.
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In March 1996, Initial findings from an O'Reilly And Associates survey, 'Conducting Business on the Internet,' 'underscores the tremendous
opportunity that remains for businesses on the Net. At the same time, continued caution is warranted,'
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In May 1996, Manning, Selvage & Lee's (MS&L) 'Corporate Cyber-Dash Survey' found 66 percent of 500 corporate communicators questioned
in the US and Europe, had access to the Internet. However, 80 percent did not consider it an important communications tool. On the bright side,
respondents felt that by the year 2000 there would be a four-fold or higher increase in the importance of the Internet with regard to reaching their
respective target audiences.
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In September 1996, a Yankelovich Partners Inc. study stated that while Internet growth was up 50 percent, from May 1995 to May 1996, it was
showing signs of slowing. The study went on to state that, 'Slower growth and declining usage suggest marketers need to look beyond the faddish
curiosity that has so far characterised online's evolution. Marketers now need to identify compelling new reasons for people to log on and new
ways of sustaining existing cybercitizen interests.'
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In September 1996, ActivMedia, commenting on results which showed that some commercial websites were doing a lot better than others,
stated that, 'ActivMedia suspects that the reason for such a disparity is that many online marketers don't understand who they are talking to on
the Web, how to reach the audience they want and how to create an effective Web organisation.'
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In November 1996, a report by KPMG stated that the Internet has not yet become a substitute for doing business face to face. However 56
percent of the administrators and tax professionals questioned think that the Internet will affect the way they manage overseas business.
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In December 1996, a Forrester report claimed that the Internet will have a profound effect on the direct sales operations of large companies.
Forrester interviewed IT executives at 50 Fortune 1,000 companies and found that 46 percent expect the Internet to have either a 'huge' or
'significant' impact on their sales processes over the next three years. This cathartic change will force companies and application vendors to
fundamentally rethink how technology can be used to support sales.
- In June 1996, a survey of 7,000 households in Slovenia by RIS Slovenia found that, 'Socio-demographic structure of Internet users is similar
as in the rest of the world (males represent 75 percent of users, younger, high social classes). One third of respondents use Internet daily.... One
third of users have their access (also) from home, another third is planning to get access from home also.'
- In October 1996, the results of Inteco surveys in the five largest countries in Europe indicate that approximately 2,000,000 households have
Internet access. However less than 5 percent (under 100,000) of these are in France.
- In November 1996, figures from the Vlerick School of Management at Ghent University, indicated that Belgium is still to flock in large numbers
to the Internet. There are approximately 60-70,000 users in Belgium and annual expenditure on Internet investment is only 90m Belgian Francs.
- In November 1996, an article in Upside Online claimed that Europe is lagging behind the US in terms of Internet usage from home. It pointed
out that a survey of 2000 British homes found that while 27 percent had a PC, only 2.7 percent of those had Internet access. By the end of 1996,
however, it predicted that Europe will have 20 percent of the world Internet user population or 9.7 million.
- In November 1996, Alchera Strategic Vision and Demoskopea estimated that figures from Italy show that 1.5 percent of the population
(584,000) has access to the Internet, of which 88 percent is male. 54 percent of the user population accesses the Internet from home, 46 percent
from work and the remainder from College or University.
- In December 1996, an International Data Corporation report entitled 'The Emerging European Internet Access Market,' estimated that the
number of individuals and businesses using the Internet in Europe is expected to grow to 8.9 million at the end of 1996, and to reach 35 million by
the year 2000. The largest Internet access market by the end of 1996 will be Germany with 30 percent of the market, followed by the UK, the
Netherlands and Sweden.
- In June 1996, an Activmedia study found that, 'In a brief six months, the Asian/Pacific share has increased from 3.5 percent to 5.4 percent of
the 1104 web marketers responding to ActivMedia's study. ActivMedia predicts that the Asian/Pacific region will nearly double its share of sites
by the end of 1997.'
- In July 1996, a survey by www.consult of the Australian Internet found that, '40 percent of Internet WWW users have started access in the past
6 months; the majority of people use it at least once a day; nearly all expect to increase their time involvement in the next 12 months; 87 percent
are male; most users are aged between 20 and 44.'
- In September 1996, ActivMedia claimed that, 'Over the past three months, the growth in the Japanese listings on the Web has been triple that
of English. Three months ago Yahoo Japan had 7 percent as many company listings as the general Yahoo listings - it now has 13 percent. The
growth in Japan is not just restricted to companies, consumers are also flooding the Internet. With conservative growth predictions, the Japanese
user population promises to be around 30 million by the year 2000.'
- In November 1996, a Taiwan Central News Agency report predicted that the number of Taiwan PC users hooked to international computer
networks is expected to swell to two million over the next three years, while the yearly value of their business is estimated to top 20 billion US
dollars.
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