Nielsen NetRatings: More Americans accessing the Net at work

Sep 12 2002: A new report from Nielsen-Netratings indicates that the number of Americans accessing the Internet at work grew 17 percent year-on-year.

Nearly 46 million American office workers logged onto the Web during August, the highest peak since Nielsen-Netratings began measuring the at-work audience in January 2000.

While men still outnumber women in Net usage at work, female office workers were the primary drivers of traffic growth over the past year, with the women at-work Internet population growing 23 percent to 20.4 million.

The number of men accessing the Internet from work rose 12 percent since last August to nearly 25.3 million.

The research found that men spent more time online, accessed more sessions and viewed more Web pages than women last month.

Men averaged nearly 31 hours online in August, compared to nearly 27 hours for female office workers.

Men also initiated an average of 54 sessions a month, compared to 50 for women, and men viewed more than 1900 pages, while women accessed fewer than 1700 page views last month.
 
Forrester Research: North Americans don't spend free time online

Aug 30 2002: A recent study from Forrester Research indicates that North Americans prefer to spend their free time watching television rather than going online.

Consumers in North America spend an average of 8.7 hours per week watching TV, compared to just 2.3 hours spent online.

The study found that North Americans also spend an average of 5.5 hours per week listening to the radio and 2.7 hours per week reading newspapers.

However, the report indicates that those with more time to spare spend almost twice as many hours online than those with limited free time.

Abundant free-timers also tend to spend much more time visiting media sites than those with limited free time, according to the study.

But, the report suggests that while abundant free-timers may spend more time online, those with limited free time purchase as often as those with more free time and spend only slightly less.