There’s A Good Reason Advertisers Are Flocking to the Internet – New Research Shows The Very Rich Are the Fastest Growing Web Users

Philip Stone February 28, 2005

High-income users – those earning more than $150,000 a year – are more active on the web than any other financial segment in the US, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. Men favor the financial sites; women like entertainment sites; and both spend a lot of time on travel sites

That’s good news for advertisers who, after all, want to attract those who have money to spend. The rich market segment jumped 20% in January from a year ago. Not only do the high-income folks view more web pages per month (2,176) than any other financial income group, they also spent the most time online (76 hours per month).

Common sense says that it is the rich who will overwhelmingly subscribe to broadband, giving good access to online video, and a survey by Frank N. Magid Associates for the Online Publishers Association (OPA) proves that point. Of viewers with a household income of $100,000 or more, 87% have broadband access at work and 76% have broadband at home.

Which could explain why the rich particularly favor video, but it also has wide acceptance across all segments. “More than one in four consumers watch online video each week, and our research shows they have an appetite for more,” according to Michael Zimbalist, OPA president.

The research showed that 70% of web users have seen a video ad, and 44% said they took some action because of it, with 9% saying they actually made a purchase.

It was the OPA that shocked the traditional media last September by reporting that the web was the most preferred place for news junkies, even beating television.

And new research by Washingtonpost.com, in conjunction with Nielsen/Net Ratings reaffirms that original research. According to Washingtonpost.com, 60% of those surveyed said they access news online daily, compared to 47% who watch a television newscast, 41% who get their information from the radio and a paltry 30% who read a local newspaper.

And the trend is continuing with 47% saying their Internet usage has increased over the past year and 20% reporting they watch less television than they did one year ago.

Supporting that, 66% of the respondents in the OPA video research said the most common video they watched were news clips, with sports the most popular. The Washingtonpost.com research closely resembled the results of the OPA video research – OPA reporting 70% of Internet users view online video while Washingtonpost.com said it was 69%.

And more bad news for newspapers. The Washingtonpost.com respondents said that if they were limited to just two types of media then 46.5% chose the Internet and 34.6% chose television. As it is, they spend 21.2 hours a week online but only 2.9 hours a week reading newspapers.

But there was some good news for those who claim the media is shooting itself in the foot by providing news for free on the Internet. The Washingtonpost.com survey showed 21% had paid for some content or have subscribed for content. So if there is a perceived value they will pay.