Press Release
U.S. Consumer Spending on Online Content Totals $1.3 Billion in 2002, According to Online Publishers Association Report
NEW
YORK, March 4, 2003 � The Online Publishers Association today released its
U.S. Market Spending Report for paid online content covering Q4 and the Full
Year 2002. The study, conducted by comScore Networks, determined that
consumer spending for online content in the U.S. totaled $1.3 billion in 2002,
an increase of 95% over 2001.
From Q3 to
Q4 2002, paid content revenue fell from $361 million to $338 million,
suggesting that seasonality and overall economic factors may be increasingly
affecting the category as it grows larger. However, while some potential
online content buyers no doubt directed their Q4 2002 spending to more
traditional holiday purchases, the 49% year-over-year growth rate for paid
content in that quarter still outpaced the overall e-commerce growth rate of
23%* over the same period.
The
Personals/Dating category surpassed both Business/Investment and
Entertainment/Lifestyles to become the largest paid content category in 2002
with $302 million in revenues, up nearly threefold from $72 million in
2001. Those top three categories � Personals/Dating, Business/Investment
Content and Entertainment/Lifestyles � accounted for 63% of online content
spending in 2002, up from 59% in 2001.
�The year
2002 will go down as the year in which the conventional wisdom about paid
online content changed,� said Michael Zimbalist, executive director of the
Online Publishers Association. �Whether or not consumers will pay for
content is no longer a matter of debate. Clearly, they will.�
According to
the report, the average spending per consumer increased only 4% from Q4 2001 to
Q4 2002, indicating that the growth rates in paid content revenue are
attributable to additional consumers, rather than additional spending per
consumer. The number of U.S. consumers paying for online content in Q4
2002 grew to 14.3 million from 10 million in Q4 2001.
Annual
subscriptions continue to be the dominant pricing model, accounting for 41% of
online content sales in 2002, vs. 42% in 2001. However, in some
categories � notably Games and General News � the monthly model remains
strong. Micropayments of less than $5 grew 707% year-over-year, but still
represented less than 1% of sales, generating only 9.6 million in revenue in
2002, primarily in the General News category.
The top 25
Web destinations by 2002 consumer content revenue are as follows:
|
Top 25 Web Destinations |
|
|
|
|
|
1.
yahoo.com |
14.
thestreet.com |
|
2.
match.com |
15.
bluemountain.com |
|
3.
real.com |
|
|
4.
classmates.com |
17.
kiss.com |
|
5.
wsj.com |
18.
msn.com |
|
6.
weightwatchers.com |
19.
egreetings.com |
|
7.
ancestry.com |
20.
ieee.org |
|
8.
consumerinfo.com |
21.
arttoday.com |
|
9.
matchmaker.com |
22.
pressplay.com |
|
10.
1800ussearch.com |
23.
britannica.com |
|
11.
consumerreports.org |
24.
astrology.com |
|
smartmoney.com |
|
|
|
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