Posted 10/01/09 at 02:09:17 PM by Paul Lilly

This whole mobile thing is really catching on, as women, teens, and seniors 65 and older are finding out. According to Nielsen, web visitors using a mobile device shot up 34 percent year-over-year, catapulting from 42.5 million mobile surfers in July 2008 to just shy of 57 million in July 2009. And most of those visitors are from the three previously mentioned demographics.

In fact, year-over-year growth among teens aged 13-17 increased 45 percent, while seniors shot up by over 67 percent, Nielsen said. Those were the two most active demographics, and while male surfers still make up the majority of the mobile Web at 53 percent, visitors of the opposite sex outpaced their male counterparts in July.

"As with other forms of Internet technology, more men were early-adopters of the mobile Web and still make up a slightly larger presence today," commented Chris Quick, client services manager, mobile media. "Now that the technology is more mainstream, women are quickly embracing the benefits as 'connected customers,' tapping the convenience of Web access on mobile phones to network, browser the latest shopping deals, and get ideas for dinner, all while on the go."

An interesting side note: People.com (No. 1), MySpace.com (No. 5), and Facebook.com (No. 9) were among the top 10 mobile sites among women in July, while men were busy surfing Gizmodo.com (No. 1), Maxim.com (No. 2), and Wired.com (No. 10).

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Posted 09/22/09 at 11:00:00 AM by Paul Lilly

According to DigitalBeat, Facebook today is expected to announce a partnership with media research firm Nielsen that will give the social networking site better analytics on how its ads are doing.

The partnership comes just one week after Facebook flew past 300 million users and, presumably, will bring the site closer to its goal of being a massive company on the same level as Yahoo, Microsoft, and Google. In order to do that, Facebook needs a strong presence in the advertising market.

As part of the partnership, advertisers who are also Nielsen customers will be allowed to poll Facebook users who have seen the ads on the social network's site. These will appear in the sponsored messages space on Facebook's homepage, and according to Facebook, they will be controlled to limit participation. Facebook also allayed privacy concerns by promising that no personally identifiable information will be collected.

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Posted 07/10/09 at 07:00:38 AM by Paul Lilly

This probably won't come as much of a shocker, but according to a new study from Nielson Online, our impressionable youth are hopping on the Internet at a much faster rate than either their parents or siblings.

More specifically, the study found that the Internet was populated with nearly 16 million kids between the age of 2 and 11 last May. That's an 18 percent growth rate for that age group in the past five years, compared to 10 percent growth among all Internet users.

Not only are kids tapping into cyber-space more often, but they're also staying connected longer than before. According to the study, children logged 11 hours of online time in May, up from 7 hours in May of 2004.

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Posted 03/10/09 at 10:03:47 AM by Paul Lilly

According to a new study by Nielsen-Online, social networks and blogs are now the 4th most popular online activity. Collectively referred to as "Member Communities," Nielsen says these are visited by over two-thirds of the online population, putting them "ahead of personal email." It's also the fastest-growing sector out of the top four, which also includes search, portals, and PC software and email.

"Social networking has become a fundamental part of the global online experience," says John Burbank, CEO of Nielsen Online (PDF). "While two-thirds of the global online population already accesses member community sites, their vigorous adoption and the migration of time show no signs of slowing. Social networking will continue to alter not just the global online landscape, but the consumer experience at large."

Facebook, which ranks as the most popular social network, draws three out of every 10 people online each month across the nine markets tracked. And it's not limited to any single age group. According to Nielsen, the biggest increase in visitors during 2008 came from the 35-49 demographic.

The report, titled "Global Faces and Networked Places," attributes some of the growth to the prominence of mobile phones, noting a "big increase over last year" in the number of users visiting Member Communities through their handsets.

Surprised by any of this? Hit the jump and sound off.

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Posted 01/05/09 at 05:00:49 PM by Nathan Grayson

Research group The Nielsen Company recently released a list of 2008’s 10 most played PC games, but seeing as how you’re probably still scraping bolded numbers off your monitor after you last careened into our list sanctum, we nearly skipped it. However, as it turns out, Nielsen’s runway strut contained a pretty interesting anomaly, so we want you to look at it.

Top 10 PC Game Titles in the U.S.

1. World of Warcraft (2004) / Blizzard Entertainment 671 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.723% AU*
2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007) / Infinity Ward 403 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.163% AU*
3. Halo: Combat Evolved (2003) / Gearbox, Bungie 295 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.092% AU*
4. The Sims (2000) / EA Maxis 213 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.09% AU*
5. The Sims 2 (2004) / EA Maxis 291 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.086% AU*
6. RuneScape (2001) / Jagex Ltd. 451 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.084% AU*
7. Diablo II (2000) / Blizzard Entertainment 313 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.065% AU*
8. Team Fortress 2 (2007) / Valve 371 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.063% AU*
9. Counter-Strike (2000) / Valve 282 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.062% AU*
10. Counter-Strike: Source (2004) / Valve 426 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.061% AU*

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