Content Still King
StumbleUponUS trade body the Online Publisher’s Association has introduced new metrics to account for consumers’ behaviour online. Initial results show that content sites account for nearly half of consumers’ time, with that proportion rising on a monthly basis.
The new measure - the Internet Activity Index divides usage into four areas, content, communications, commerce and search. It then tracks the amount of time spent on these activities as recorded by Nielsen/NetRatings:
- Content - Web sites and Internet applications that are designed primarily to provide news, information and entertainment.
- Communications - Web sites and Internet applications that are designed to facilitate the exchange of thoughts, messages, or information directly between individuals or groups of individuals.
- Commerce - Web sites and Internet applications that are designed for shopping online.
- Search - Web sites and Internet applications that scan the Web to provide prioritized results based on specific criteria from user-generated requests.
The initial results show that content-based sites are the clear winners when it comes to consumer attention.
(for other views, see the original here)
The results give a clear picture of seasonal variation when it comes to the amount of time spent shopping online, with rising figures from September to December, followed by a sharp drop in January. Overall, though, the trend appears to indicate less time spent shopping and more on content. Hopefully for internet retailers, this indicates that it’s becoming quicker and easier to shop online than ever before.
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