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SA's online publishers report 25% readership growth

The South African online publishing industry increased its readership by about 25% to attract a monthly combined local and overseas readership of 4,38-million readers/unique browsers and 111,6-million page impressions, it was revealed on Monday by the Online Publishers Association (OPA).

The latest readership figures, which are independently audited by Nielsen//Netratings, represent activity for April 2005. The figures show a 25% increase of about 900 000 readers since they were last released by the OPA in August 2004, about nine months ago.

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 about 33% of readers accessed the net from home. Johannesburg was revealed as the biggest internet city, followed by Cape Town, Pretoria and Durban.

According to the statistics, South Africa's online publishers attract a highly educated and big-earning audience, with the largest group of internet users (about 24,7%) holding postgraduate degrees and about 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 Chairperson Russell Hanly said the online publishing industry has good reason to be upbeat about these new readership figures.

"Last year saw online advertising emerging as one of South Africa's fastest growing medium. 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. No doubt the quality of OPA member sites has a lot to do with these audience statistics," said Hanly.

The statistics also reveal that 57,3% of web users are male and 42,6% are female; and the predominant age bracket is between 18 and 34.

The OPA represents South Africa's major online publishing businesses. Its aim is to promote the growth and profitability of the online publishing industry, by setting the highest standards and meeting the needs of marketing and advertising professionals.

Find out more about the OPA at www.opa.org.za

 AggregateUnique BrowsersPage Imp.
1Market Aggregate4,378,106111,629,533
RankPublisherUnique Browsers vPage Imp.
1Media241,797,50826,552,826
2Independent Online1,303,22013,539,816
3MWEB632,47219,330,356
4SuperSport Zone433,85910,684,544
5Ananzi (Pty) Ltd402,7326,807,163
6iafrica.com375,1627,856,679
7Mail & Guardian Online253,7602,103,544
8Johnnic Communications203,3312,520,587
9CareerJunction157,3667,425,109
10Moneyweb Holdings111,1001,709,641
11SABCNews.com105,043904,142
12Bizcommunity.com104,9461,829,853
135FM97,6081,871,820
14ITWeb Limited96,169571,844
15BDFM Publishers85,793811,185
16Moneymax79,2121,640,655
17365 Digital Publishing76,565828,883
18Private Property73,3523,197,110
19Ramsay, Son & Parker62,2121,283,455
20Creamer Media (Pty) Ltd57,902239,102
21Business in Africa8,42127,065

9 May 2005 14:50

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