Friday, December 8, 2000

Online 8 to 12 Year-Olds Split Time While Watching TV

Half (48%) of online 8 to 12 year-olds say they do "nothing else" but watch the TV when it is on; but 52% are engaged in other activities at the same time, according to the latest Nickelodeon Online/Harris Interactive KidPulseSM survey. For example, sixteen percent(16%) of online 8 to 12 year-olds report that during the previous day they talked on the telephone while simultaneously watching TV. Eleven percent (11%) report they surfed the Internet, 9% read a magazine, and 6% listened to the radio at the same time. Nearly one-third (31%) were doing "something else" entirely. The study, conducted via the Internet by Harris Interactive (Nasdaq: HPOL), the global leader in Internet-based research, interviewed 612 respondents ages 8 to 12.

"The inter-penetration of media consumption behavior is greater among this online generation than in any previous generation," says Melva Goffney, director of research and planning at Nickelodeon Online. "Not only is there more information and entertainment available to today’s young people, but there are more delivery, recording and playback devices."

The latest Nickelodeon Online/Harris Interactive poll reports that, on an average day, more than 9 in 10 (93%) online 8 to 12 year-olds watch TV, nearly two-thirds listen to the radio (63%), and nearly half play a video game on a video game system (46%). Four in ten (43%) online 8 to 12 year-olds report watching a video or DVD, better than one-third (37%) say they surf or access the Internet, and nearly one-third (31%) read a magazine.

"This generation is growing up inside a unique and fast-moving media, communications and entertainment space, but kids themselves change more slowly, " notes Peter Silsbee, director of youth research, Harris Interactive. "For instance, there remain big differences between boys and girls in video game playing. Two-thirds (67%) of boys report playing on a video game system yesterday as compared to 24% of girls. In addition, 42% of 8 to 12 year-old boys say they surfed or accessed the Internet yesterday as compared to 30% of girls."

The report also found media penetration differences by age as well as gender. Ten to 12 year-olds are twice as likely to have surfed or accessed the Internet in the previous day as compared to 8 to 9 year-olds.

(46% for 10 to 12 year-olds versus 22% for 8 to 9 year-olds). Similarly, twice as many 10 to 12 year-olds watched a prerecorded video of a TV program as compared to 8 to 9 year-olds (19% versus 8%, respectively).

Nickelodeon Online/Harris Interactive KidPulseSM is a multi-client study conducted online that covers a variety of youth topics, from their online behavior, their technology adoption and views, their brand and category usage, and their hopes and dreams for the future. The study is conducted quarterly (January, April, July, and October) by Harris Interactive. Data in this release were collected between July 14 and 21, 2000.

Computers The Top Online Retail Category For Week Two Of The Holiday Shopping Season
Media Metrix, a pioneer and leader in Internet and Digital Media measurement worldwide, today released the second installment of its Holiday 2000 E-commerce Series, revealing the most comprehensive retail Website measurement results for the week ending December 3, 2000. The Media Metrix Online Shopping Index, which aggregates Web visitors from both home and work to nearly 400 retail sites and 18 retail subcategories, increased 31.2 percent over the same week last year, climbing from 27.2 million to 35.6 million unique visitors. This increase outpaced the 12.0 percent growth of the entire Web during the same period.

Week Two Highlights

* Computers surpassed Books to become the top retail subcategory for the week ending December 3, 2000, with 2.3 million average daily unique visitors. Computers sites also represented three of the top five gainers for the week ending December 3, 2000. Hp.com, McAfee.com and Symantec.com had week-over-week average daily unique visitor increases of 86.5, 75.4 and 63.8 percent, respectively.

* Amazon.com and Mypoints.com were the top two retail sites for the second week in a row this holiday season, with 1.6 million and 1.4 million average daily unique visitors, respectively, for the week ending December 3, 2000. While Toys sites were absent from the top ten ranking during Thanksgiving Week, Etoys.com was the number nine site for the week ending December 3, 2000, with 338,000 average daily unique visitors.

* Fragrances-Cosmetics and Food were the top two gaining retail subcategories for the week ending December 3, 2000, posting week-over-week average daily unique visitor increases of 35.4 and 31.3 percent, respectively.

* Bluelight.com and Dealtime.com posted the largest year-over-year weekly traffic gains among the top 25 Retail sites for the week ending December 3, 2000, with 502.2 and 471.1 percent increases in average daily unique visitors, respectively, since the week ending December 5, 1999. (Note: Since Bluelight.com did not exist in 1999, its increase was calculated using average daily unique visitors to Kmart.com.)

“Despite recent fears about slowing PC sales, computer-retail sites are among the most popular online destinations this holiday season,” said Anne Rickert, measurement analyst, Media Metrix. “Many of these sites are offering holiday discounts on PCs, as well as other highly anticipated items such as software, digital cameras, handhelds and other computer accessories.”

News Tidbits (appears every day on front page)
- Radio stations were dealt a setback this week when the Copyright Office announced that stations must pay extra royalty fees to broadcast over the Internet. Stations had argued that because they already pay on air royalty fees to broadcast there should not be additional fees to carry the same signal online.

- Free Internet access companies are dropping like flies. Before summer there were nearly a dozen free Internet access companies. Now only three major ones remain - Net Zero, Bluelight, and Juno. The Free Internet access business model left the majority of income coming from advertising banners.