eBay, AOL Benefit from Increased US Web Usage

eBay and AOL benefited the most from an uptick in Americans’ internet habits during March 2010, according to data from The Nielsen Company.

Americans Engage More Online
With growth that may be partially explained by March 2010 having three more days than February 2010, Americans conducted an average of 57 internet sessions during the month, 7.6% more than 53 the previous month. The average number of domains visited per person grew 7.2%, from 83 to 89, and the average number of web pages visited per person increased 4.1%, from 2,543 to 2,646.

In addition, the average PC time person increased 5.9%, from 57 hours, two minutes and 38 seconds to 60 hours, 25 minutes and seven seconds. The amount of time users spent viewing the average web page grew 1.2%, from 55 to 56 seconds. The total number of active internet users rose 3.3%, from 191.4 million to 197.7 million.

eBay, AOL Biggest Gainers among Top Parent Companies
As opposed to February 2010, when six of the top 10 parent companies lost audience share and all lost average time spent in their sites, in March 2010 nine of the top 10 parent companies gained in both categories.

Online auction retailer eBay led in both unique audience (5.8%) and time spent (12%) growth, percentagewise. eBay had a unique audience of 66.3 million users who spent an average of one hour, 26 minutes and eight seconds, and was ranked eighth in terms of audience size. Number five AOL LLC followed with 5.1% audience growth and 8.1 time spent growth, ending the month with an audience of 85.1 million users who spent an average of two hours, 14 minutes and 38 seconds.

Google had the largest monthly audience with 157.7 million users (up 2.8%) spending an average of one hour, 56 minutes and 14 seconds (up 1.5%). Microsoft followed with an audience of 136.7 million (up 1.7%) and average time spent of one hour, 59 minutes and 59 seconds (up 2.8%). Yahoo came in third with 133 million unique visitors (up 3.7%) and average time spent of two hours, 34 minutes and 56 seconds (up 6.1%). Facebook continued its trend of featuring a much longer time spent average (six hours, 59 minutes and 15 seconds, up 1.8%) than any other top 10 parent company.

Although News Corp. Online came in sixth with a unique audience of 74.9 million, it was the only top 10 parent company to report a decline in either audience (down 0.5%) or average time spent (down 9.5%).

All Top Web Brands Grow Audience
Unlike the top 10 parent company results, all top 10 web brands reported audience growth during March 2010. However, number five web brand YouTube (down 1.7%) number nine web brand Apple (down 0.7%), and number 10 web brand Ask Search Network (down 2.8%) saw decreases in average time spent on their sites.

AOL Media Network, the number seven web brand with a unique audience of 85.1 million, led percentagewise in both unique audience growth (5.5%) and average time spent growth (two hours, 14 minutes and 38 seconds, up 8.1%). Google had the largest monthly unique audience (149.1 million, up 3.5%), and its average time spent of one hour, eighteen minutes and 58 seconds rose 3.2%.

Yahoo came in second with a unique audience of 131.4 million (up 4%) and average time spent of two hours, 35 minutes and six seconds (up 5.4%). Facebook had the third-largest audience of 117.1 million (up 4.7%) and held as commanding a lead in average time spent among web brands as it did among parent companies (six hours, 59 minutes and 15 seconds, up 1.8%).

Americans Do Less with Web in Feb.
Americans quite simply did less with the internet last month than they did in January 2010, according to previous Nielsen data. The average sessions/visits per person declined 7.3%, from 55 to 51. Domains visited per person dropped 2.2%, from 90 to 88. Web pages per person declined 7.9%, from 2,621 to 2,415. PC time per person decreased 7.8%, from 58 hours, 52 minutes and five seconds to 54 hours, 16 minutes and 37 seconds. The average duration of a web page viewed shrank 0.4%, from 56 seconds to 55 seconds. And the total number of active internet users fell 0.9%, from about 203.1 million to about 201.2 million.