E-Commerce Times Talkback

Re: Report: Four Web Sites Control Half of Surfing Time
Posted by: ECT News 2001-06-04 13:43:31

See Full Story

Offering further evidence that media companies and online portals will control the bulk of
e-commerce traffic, four Web properties -- America Online, Yahoo!, Microsoft and Napster --
now account for more than half of all the time spent online by U.S. surfers, Jupiter Media
Metrix said Monday.

Jupiter's report found that the number of Web sites controling 50 percent of surfing time
shrunk to four from 11 two years ago. Jupiter said the data helps dispel the long-held
myth that market dominance on the Web would be difficult to achieve.

Interestingly 3 of the 4 companies listed provide instant messaging
Posted by: Rob Blaq 2001-06-05 14:14:14 In reply to: ECT News

I am curious as to what constitutes "time spent online"? AOL, Microsoft, and Yahoo all provide instant messaging service. In Juniper's stats do they count having your instant messenger running as spending time with a particular company, even if you are not actually browsing their site?

And what about Napster: does running the Napster program count as being online with Napster even though you may not actually be browsing the site?

I wonder what the results of this report would be if they did not count companies that have programs that run on your computer in the background?

This article leaves more questions than it answers.

no details about data collection or validity
Posted by: Jason 2001-06-05 07:51:19 In reply to: ECT News

This article doesn't say how the study data was collected, which in my mind has a huge potential for error, nor does it state for what geographical region (US?) the results are supposed to be valid.

Without knowing this information, it would be foolish to make any decision based on these results.

Re: no details about data collection or validity
Posted by: phil 2001-06-05 14:52:46 In reply to: Jason

Totally agree.

How the hell did they measure this? If it's through some larger
pool of sites that have all agreed to be monitored in
a particular way (like doubleclick), then it just might reflect that
more traffic is going to the real small guys that no one
is counting at all.

Re: Report: Four Web Sites Control Half of Surfing Time
Posted by: paul 2001-06-05 06:12:00 In reply to: ECT News

What happened to the other seven sites that had equal power two years ago? Will AOL be a lone stander in 2 more years?

Re: Report: Four Web Sites Control Half of Surfing Time
Posted by: John 2001-06-04 20:00:19 In reply to: ECT News

AOL eh? With the world's homes, offices and streets awash with AOL startup CDs it's no wonder that AOL is up there in the top 4. I wonder what the stats would look like if startup CDs like AOL did not quietly invade users' browsers to virtually 'hard-code' the corporate site as the users' default home page.

Re: Report: Four Web Sites Control Half of Surfing Time
Posted by: Gary 2001-06-04 17:07:17 In reply to: ECT News

I wonder if they consider time spent transferring files IN THE BACKGROUND using the Napster application as being "online"? Much if not most of the time spent transferring files is spent doing other things online or on their desktops. Is that really time spent "at Napster"? It's a bit different than spending time on a website....

Gary

Re: Report: Four Web Sites Control Half of Surfing Time
Posted by: Noelle 2001-06-04 16:24:26 In reply to: ECT News

I also would like to have read more about Napster's position in the top four -- to me, it says a lot about what people really want online. It's more interesting than the other three combined, yet there was no mention of it other than the initial list of the four leaders.

Re: Report: Four Web Sites Control Half of Surfing Time
Posted by: Aaron 2001-06-04 15:23:26 In reply to: ECT News

Just because you really want this to be the story doesn't mean it is.

1) AOL and Microsoft have dial-up customers as their primary source of traffic, although Microsoft also has a massive software support site serving, well, 90 percent of computer owners. That means that of course people will spend time there -- that's like saying "people drive on their driveways more often than on any other type of road!"

2) Yahoo is unique. It's a stand-alone portal, unsupported by paying members, that happens to be able to support itself with advertising. If there were four sites like Yahoo on your list then you would have a case ... but there's only one. But e-commerce traffic? Only in the same way you can argue that the yellow pages is the biggest advertising agency in the world.

3) You never address the Napster phenomenon. Supposedly it's in the top four, but what does that tell us? Nothing to support your broad opening statement. E-commerce and Napster aren't two things most people would immediately associate.

Re: Report: Four Web Sites Control Half of Surfing Time
Posted by: spiderbarker 2001-06-05 09:42:13 In reply to: Aaron

Who gets paid for doing this crap? What a horrible report. And a stupid article about it.

Oh and btw Yahoo has been doing e-commerce longer than AOL (to whoever it was that said Yahoo was "unique"...Like the other three aren't unique)?

Anyway, all the comments made here before my posting apply. My daughter and most of her friends search the radio dial for a station that plays Britney Spears. And she doesn't have a credit card yet Mr. Case.

So let's all just go home because the big companies are going to rule the world anyway! Uggh. I'm counting on the fact that my daughter's musical tastes will broaden by the time she's got a credit card. Ok?

Yes, this *has* to be the most useless bit of drivel I've seen on the net in a long time...

Oh yeah...one more thing: If Microsoft sends me junk mail does that get counted as well? hahaha

Re: Report: Four Web Sites Control Half of Surfing Time
Posted by: Andrew 2001-06-05 09:41:13 In reply to: Aaron

But e-commerce traffic? Only in the same way you can argue that the yellow pages is the biggest advertising agency in the world.

Ummm. probably half the medium sized shops on the web are powered by Yahoo's shop.yahoo.com system.

Re: Report: Four Web Sites Control Half of Surfing Time
Posted by: jim 2001-06-04 17:15:37 In reply to: Aaron

How much of the Microsoft "surfing" time is really people playing on a Microsoft game site, such as Asheron's Call. I am not sure that I would count this as surfing time.

How old is the basic data? I have heard that Napster traffic is way down.

It would be nice to see percentages for each of the top ten. (I guess we should go get the report, but like many internet surfers, I want everything now and I want it free.)