New Digital Media Universe from Nielsen//NetRatings

Nielsen//NetRatings has this week announced the introduction of Digital Media Universe tracking to its reports, providing the most comprehensive view of Web and digital media usage.

Measurement of the Digital Media Universe offers information on the growing usage of Internet applications, including file sharing and instant messaging. The results for October 2003 indicate that people in the 12 international markets under measurement are spending a great deal of time using these applications. Top of the list in the UK are Windows Media Player and MSN Messenger, two Microsoft applications.

UK Top Internet Applications, October 2003, Home Panel

The leading Internet applications attract a high amount of time online compared to most websites, with MSN Messenger in active use for an average of two and a half hours per month in the UK, far longer than any other part of the MSN brand.

Although MSN messenger attracts a large audience in many other countries, it is not necessarily the most intensively used messenger service. In Australia, France, Germany and Brazil and Spain mIRC users spend more than four hours per month on the service. In Germany, Yahoo! Messenger is in use for an average of almost seven hours per month, and mIRC for four hours. Users in Hong Kong spend an average of four and a half hours per month on the ICQ service. By comparison, music download applications are used less intensively, with KazaA in being used for between 1-2 hours in most countries each month.

'The scale of Internet applications usage is remarkable', commented European Market Analyst Tom Ewing, 'These categories barely existed a year ago and now the market leaders are being used by five or six million in the UK people every month. What this new report shows us is that online applications are stickier than most websites, and audience overlap between competitors is rarer. The big question in the next year or two is how companies can generate revenue from them'.

With the launch of the Digital Media Universe, the Nielsen//NetRatings service will expand to combine Web-based traffic with Internet applications and browser channel audience data, including comprehensive measurement of AOL proprietary channels. The rest of the Digital Media Universe is comprised of the measurement of instant messaging, media players, media sharing applications, ISP applications, wireless content systems, Web phones, news and information toolbars, connected games, weather applications, auction assistants and shopping assistants.

'Our tracking of the digital media universe is one of the most important advances in the industry', said William Pulver, president and CEO, NetRatings. 'As the currency for online audience measurement, Nielsen//NetRatings continues to set the standard by which advertisers and marketers can measure and plan their campaigns'.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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