SA internet use exploding

2007-06-18 11:33

Staff writer

Johannesburg - SA's online audience has grown 120% over the past two years as high broadband prices have slowly started to come down.

Internet market research company Nielsen//NetRatings says the number of SA unique browsers is up 120% over the last two years, while page impressions are up 129%.

"In terms of the number of people using the internet, the most developed markets in the northern hemisphere have seen a plateauing of growth over the last year or so. By contrast, South Africa has seen phenomenal expansion - growing by around 50% in each of the last two years," says Alex Burmaster, an internet analyst with Nielsen//NetRatings.

"This type of growth is, of course, something we have seen across all markets as the internet has taken hold and moves away from being a niche activity to a very mainstream form of media and an integral part of life."

In May 2007, 3.9m active unique browsers were registered in SA; this is a 121% increase on the number in May 2005.

Over the same period, page impressions grew by 129%, 91m in May 2005 to 207m in May 2007.

Two years ago, the monthly rental on a 512 kilobit/second fixed-line broadband (ADSL) line cost in the region of R600/month; at May 2007 prices, the line rental is R362/month.

More male users

Men comprise the majority of internet users, with 54% (or 2.15m people) of the internet population being male.

In age terms, the most dominant group is 25- to 34-year-olds. At 1.42m users in this group, it accounts for 36% of the online population. This is closely followed 35- to 49-year-olds who account for a further 35% (or 1.37m people) of the internet population in SA.

English is the most dominant language - being the language spoken primarily at home by around 2.1m online South Africans (52% of the internet population). Afrikaans follows at 1.11m (28% of the internet population)

The South African internet population is much more concentrated around 25-49 year olds than other English- speaking internet nations. In South Africa, this group makes up around 70% of the internet population, compared to less than 50% in the UK, around 45% in Australia and 40% in the USA.

The majority of the internet population speaks English and the vast majority of online content is English. While South African internet is experiencing huge growth in this area, the opportunity for hyper-audience growth in the future lies in targeting African-language speakers, says Nielsen/NetRatings.

- Finance24