With double-digit growth across most categories measured, South Africans continued to take to the Internet in 2008, and the profile of those doing so is evolving.

Andrew Felbert, of Nielsen Online, said, “Not only are there more people online in South Africa, but they are spending more time online and viewing more content.  Companies and advertisers wishing to get their products and services in front of consumers can no longer ignore the power of the Internet.”

According to the new research:

•    The number of unique browsers and pages viewed increased by 25% between December 2007 and December 2008

•    Total time spent online increase by 45%

•    Males continue to dominate and now comprise 58% of the audience, up from 55% a year ago

•    The audience is aging, with the 50+ age group showing the most growth

•    English is the dominant language, comprising 56% of Unique Browsers — increasing share by almost 2%.  Afrikaans was the second-most dominant language, but showed a decrease of 2%.

•    The fastest growing brands are newspapers – Sunday World, Dispatch, Sowetan and The Herald all showed double or triple digit growth.

View the the full release

A new survey conducted in May by Nielsen Online found that 80% of consumer electronics purchasers visited a store’s Website before buying a product in-store.  The survey also found that most consumers (58%) prefer using the Internet for product research — compared with only 25% that prefer to do their research in a brick and mortar store.

The results indicate that consumers are increasingly turning to the Internet to conduct research before visiting local stores to make a purchase, Ken Cassar, Vice President, Industry Insights, Nielsen Online, noted.

“A strong Web presence with broad and deep online content is critical for all retailers, including brick and mortar stores,” he said. “Retailers that are able to facilitate consumers’ multi-channel shopping behaviors will enjoy growth in market share across the enterprise.”

View the full press release.

Learn more about the relationship between online activity and offline retail — download Nielsen Online’s “Pinpointing the Value of Multi-Channel Behavior” Webinar.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in Ad Age.