Over half of China’s Internet users regularly blog and uses social media.

Everyone knows that if you want to reach a lot of people fast, going digital is a good bet. But in China, the odds are even better. Boasting the largest Internet community in the world with over 420 million online users, China’s online community has shown steady double-digit user growth rates over the past five years.

The rapidly increasing growth of online is no surprise. The digital landscape provides a virtual playground of activity as a one-stop shop to satisfy entertainment, information, communication and business needs—all at the touch of our fingertips. In China, users are partial to listening to music, catching up on the latest news, using the Internet as a search tool to research a topic, connecting with friends, family or colleagues through instant messaging and playing enjoying online games and virtual experiences.

The consumer-generated media (CGM) environment is making great strides in China. More than half of all online Chinese users regularly blog and use social media to voice their opinions about entertainment, relationships, sports, politics, technology—you name it. One-third of users partake in online discussion forums and BBS (bulletin board) sites.

Using online services to conduct business transactions is slowly taking shape and presents tremendous opportunity. Only Oone in three Chinese consumers use business-to-consumer and consumer-to-consumer commerce sites and 30% take advantage of convenient online payment and banking options. Only 15% use the Internet to trade stocks and funds and fewer than 10% book their travel online.

As consumers take advantage of the many and varied benefits that online provides, they are spending an increasingly significant amount of time behind an electronic device—be it a desktop computer, mobile phone, or personal device. The overwhelming majority of online users—about three-fourths—however, use a desktop as the preferred Internet device in China. Time spent online has grown gradually from 2001 until the middle of 2010 reaching an average of almost 20 hours per week.

Online Advertising Trends
Gaining share of mind continues to fragment in the media world and online advertising is taking an important place at the bargaining table. In fact, in the first three quarters of 2010, online advertising value reached almost 15M RMB—a 21% increase over the same time period in 2009. The advertising cycle shows peaks in the spring, summer, fall and during the Christmas season, but dips during the Chinese Spring Festival also known as Chinese New Year—the longest and most important of Chinese festivities, which always falls between January 21 and February 21.

Online ads for fashion, capturing 19.2% market share in the first nine months of 2010, is the top online advertising activity. Automotive ads follow closely behind with a 17.9% share of market. Ads for retail, computer/electrical and fast-moving consumer goods round out the top five online activities with the greatest market share. On the rise are online ads for manufacturer/wholesale products, community sites and energy/raw materials, which show the greatest year-on-year growth.

Keeping a Pulse
As the online landscape continues to mature and evolve, keeping connected with online audiences is not only critical, it is necessary for survival. As a pioneer in audience measurement business, Nielsen together with China Websites Ranking provides the first China online audience measurement to help navigate the world’s largest Internet community.

Chile led the group when it came to ownership of home computers and Internet penetration.  Computer ownership was up five points from the previous year to 57% and Internet penetration hit 41%, an increase of six points.  The biggest jumps, however, came from Brazil, where more than half (51%) of households now own computers, up from just 26% the year before, and Internet penetration rose 13 points to 31%.

“Brazil’s economic growth is driving consumption across most sectors as consumers have more money to spend, so this rise is not so surprising,” said Roberto Vazquez Ferrero, Managing Director of the telecom practice at Nielsen Latin America.

Internet penetration in Colombia was up five points to 29% while in Mexico, it rose three points to 24%.

Televisions are now ubiquitous in the four countries, with 98% of homes owning them.  Colombia is far-and-away the leader when it comes to cable TV – 81% of households have subscriptions.  Half (51%) of Chilean households subscribe to cable.  Meanwhile, just one-quarter of Brazilian homes and one-third of Mexican homes have cable.

“The main barrier to cable penetration is the cost of service.  I would expect cable penetration to rise in Brazil in the near term.  In Mexico, there are many cable operators with differing services.  As they package them in ways that combine TV and Internet, such as the double and triple play packages, we could see greater penetration as competition leads to lower prices,” said Vazquez.

Source: The Nielsen Company

Notes: Internet penetration refers to households that are serviced. It excludes users who use it outside the home (e.g. internet cafes, offices, etc.). In Colombia, computer penetration includes only laptops, not desktops

Using data collected from its national and local television panels, the quarterly Home Technology phone survey and the Nielsen Claritas 2008 Convergence Audit survey, the report provides a detailed look at how Americans are getting on the internet and the differences by various demographic breaks.

Key findings of the report include:

• Internet access is correlated with education level and a household’s combined annual income. As they increase, so does the likelihood of internet access.
• Internet access is lowest in Hispanic and African-American homes, as well as those where the head of household has not completed a high school education.
• Access is much lower in rural areas and in homes that receive only broadcast TV.
• Those using dial-up service tend be older, with more modest incomes and lower education levels than those using high-speed internet.
• The East South Central region (consisting of Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky), had the highest number of households with no internet access – 26 percent.
• The top five markets with the highest percentage of homes with internet access are Washington, DC, Norfolk, Salt Lake City, Boston and Portland, OR.
• The five markets with the lowest percentages are Knoxville, Greenville, Albuquerque, Memphis and Tulsa.

“Our findings indicate that there remains opportunity for growth in internet access in the U.S.  Indeed, President Obama stated during the campaign that we had to view broadband internet access the same way we did telephone service and electricity – an essential utility available to all regardless of economic status,” said Steve McGowan, Senior Vice President, Insights and Client Research Initiatives at Nielsen.  “But part of the challenge in extending web access to all Americans is the fact that there are more homes without computers, than there are homes with computers but lacking internet access.”

To view the complete report, click here.

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

In June, there were 253 million people online in China, the government reported Friday.  The new figures indicate that China’s Internet population grew by 56% in the last year. 

In comparison, the stories noted that the U.S. had approximately 223.1 million Internet users in June, according to Nielsen Online.