Nielsen//Net Ratings Adds Six New Countries 4/10/2000 Continuing its rapid global expansion, Nielsen//NetRatings has released Internet audience information from six new countries - Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Norway and Sweden. This latest expansion brings the worldwide total to 14 countries with more than 175,000 panellists. Worldwide, Nielsen//NetRatings now provides consistent measures of Internet traffic in the United States and Canada in North America; Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore in the Asia Pacific region; and the Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Sweden and the UK in Europe. The first information from the six new countries was released in September, covering usage in July. August information will be released shortly and incorporated in the next monthly Nielsen//NetRatings Global Internet Index. According to William Pulver, President, ACNielsen eRatings.com, "The roll out of our Nielsen//NetRatings service is taking place at an incredible rate. We are well on the way to achieving our objective - to cover more than 90 per cent of the world’s Internet users in over 30 countries by the end of 2001. With our unique combination of geographic reach and quality information, Nielsen//NetRatings is becoming the global standard for Internet audience measurement." With audience information now available in eight countries in Europe - the broadest regional coverage to date - Nielsen//NetRatings information is providing the first meaningful regional information about local Internet habits and usage. Consistent with trends in other regions, global web portals and search engines lead Internet usage in Europe. But local providers of Internet services are capturing a substantial share of European at-home traffic, and local telecoms players are more prominent providers of Internet services than in other regions, such as North America. Global web portals occupy the top seven positions among European sites, with MSN and Yahoo! virtually tied in the lead in July. But eight of the leading 20 properties are local players, including a number of major European telecoms companies. According to David Day, Director of Analytical Services at ACNielsen eRatings.com, "Clearly, local players, such as France Telecom, British Telecom and Telecom Italia, are well positioned to tap into the growth in demand for Internet services presented by the developing European markets."