Kids Account For One Out Of Five Internet Surfers In The U.S.

Nielsen//NetRatings reports that more than 27 million Internet users between the ages of 2 and 17 logged online from home in September 2003. Twelve million children aged 2-11 in the U.S. accessed the Internet from home while 14.9 million teens aged 12-17 connected online. In September, kids between the ages of 2-17 represented 21 percent of active at home Internet users or one out of five Web surfers.

Mirroring the offline world, the 2-17 and 12-17 age demographics have markedly different online tastes. Most popular with the 2-11 age group was Diva Starz, a Mattel company Web site for the Diva Starz line of dolls. Fifty-four percent of the site’s audience consisted of kids aged 2-11. Second was ToonTown Online, a Disney company site, garnering 47 percent of the site’s at-home audience. Polly Pocket, also a Mattel company site, picked up 46 percent of its audience, the third highest percentage from this age group.

Among teens, Originalicons.com had the highest concentration of those aged 12-17, making up 78 percent of its audience (see Table 1). Originalicons.com is a popular destination for downloading instant messaging icons. Blunt Truth, an educational resource about Marijuana, had 76 percent of its audience from the 12-17 age group. Holding the third spot was Teen People, with 74 percent of its audience coming from the 12-17 age demographic.

“Mattel, Disney and Teen People are doing an excellent job of attracting their target audience to brand and promote key products, which positions these companies well as we head into the holiday shopping season,” said Dawn Brozek, senior analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings.

Nielsen//NetRatings also highlighted the U.S. regions with the greatest concentration of Internet savvy kids. Leading the way, Salt Lake City had 255,000 Internet savvy kids, representing 25 percent of the region’s at-home Internet audience. In Cincinnati, 24 percent of the city’s at-home Internet users, or 216,000 were children 2-17. Boston filled the third spot with 633,000 children going online from home. Rounding out the top five were Sacramento and Phoenix with both markets garnering 22 percent of the total at home audience.

“Children accounted for one in four at home Internet users in Salt Lake City as compared to the other top ten local markets, which reported one in five,” said Brozek. “Many markets now have a high percentage of Internet savvy kids, which marks the Internet as a significant delivery channel in reaching this demographic.”

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