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Best online media sites revealed

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 08 Aug 2006

The Online Publishers` Association (OPA) has released statistics for the second quarter of 2006, which shows online media usage has seen year-on-year growth of 48%.

"According to research by Nielsen//NetRatings, the total number of visitors reported across all OPA member sites in the second quarter was 6.7 million, compared with 4.5 million in the same quarter of 2005," says OPA.

The Media 24 group saw the most traffic, with average monthly unique visitors of almost 2.5 million over the April, May and June period. The other local media giant, Independent Online, saw just under two million unique browsers each month.

ITWeb ranked 20th in terms of unique international and local visitors, with a monthly average of 117 000. In terms of local unique browsers, it ranked 17th, ahead of 5FM, Business Day and Financial Mail, Moneyweb, Creamer Media and 365 Digital Publishing.

The OPA reports about 63% of visitors are not South African, but adds local users are growing by about 42%.

"The latest Web usage figures show online media as a mature and increasingly important media platform in SA," says Russell Hanly, chairman of the OPA.

"However, the challenge the industry must now overcome is removing the digital divide in SA. This can only be removed by further driving down the costs and increasing the accessibility of online media," he adds.

South African Web users are predominantly from higher income groups based in the key urban areas of the country: Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. They typically are well-educated (82% have completed further education) and work in an office, where most Internet usage (66% of access) takes place, notes the OPA report.

"The growing adoption by this higher income group has led to a boom in online advertising which is expected to exceed R183 million by the end of 2006," sates the OPA.

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