Readership of the South African online publishing industry increased by 25% to a monthly combined local and overseas total of 4.38 million readers/unique browsers and 111.6 million page impressions, says the Online Publishers` Association (OPA).
[TABLE]The latest readership figures, which are audited by Nielsen//NetRatings, represent activity for April 2005. There was a 25% increase of about 900 000 readers since figures were last released by the OPA in August 2004.
This is also the first time that all the OPA`s members are included.
It was also revealed that out of a sample group of 8 677 people surveyed by Nielsen/NetRatings, most users accessed the Internet from work (55%), while 33% logged on from home. Johannesburg was the biggest Internet city, followed by Cape Town, Pretoria and Durban.
According to the statistics, SA`s online publishers attract a highly educated and big-earning audience, with the largest group of Internet users (24.7%) holding postgraduate degrees and 19.4% of users holding bachelor`s degrees.
About 20% of users - by far the largest group in the household-income category - are in the top-earning bracket (total combined annual household income of R400 000 a year or more).
OPA chairman Russell Hanly says the online publishing industry has good reason to be upbeat about these new readership figures.
"It augurs well for the industry that this growth is clearly matched by extremely strong growth in the number of visitors to OPA member sites. The increased volume of page views reflects higher levels of activity and more frequent visits," Hanly says.
OPA deputy chairman Mark Buwalda says the results have boosted the online industry`s morale and the increase in commercial activity has meant that some sites are running out of inventory.
"Unfortunately online advertising still accounts for less than 1% of total advertising spend and so the opportunities are still huge," he says.
According to the OPA, 57.3% of Web users are male and 42.6% are female. The predominant age bracket is between 18 and 34.
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