Nielsen Report Says Internet Usage Flattening

Ant writes "This BetaNews story says an analysis of major Internet markets revealed that the time netizens spend online at home has come close to hitting a plateau in many major markets. Nielsen//NetRatings, a syndicated rating system for Internet audience measurement, measured markets in Brazil, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States and found them to be maturing. In contrast, Australia, France, Hong Kong, Italy and Japan experienced double-digit growth. According to Nielsen//NetRatings' press release (PDF) and current news story concluded that mature markets are in wait of "the next big thing" whereas emerging markets were rife with opportunity for companies online. Some of the growth engines cited in the report is the proliferation of broadband and societal changes in media consumption..."

Does this mean we get to keep IPv4?

[Nice2Cats]

After all the song and dance about how we all have to switch to IPv6 because we are running out of numbers right now, or tomorrow, or next week for sure, does this mean that we can stick with IPv4 instead?

I'm still waiting for things to fall apart with IPv4...

Time online in February?

[wasted]

The statistics in the news article show time online in February 2005. I would expect a decline in time online compared to February 2004, since February 2004 had 29 days and February 2005 had 28 days.

Then again, maybe they compensated for that descrepancy when computing their statistics.

How?

[KillerDeathRobot]

How do they get these net-ratings? A cursory glance of their website didn't reveal much. Is it the same way they get tv ratings? Like, where they send you a little book to fill out and 5 dollars for your time?

Less use for me.

[SteveXE]

I use the net alot less now, got a girlfriend that keeps me happy (as opposed to my ex who kept me miserable), ever since I met her the internet has lost its boredom killing magic and has since become a source of boredom. Of course i still visit /. many times a day, I am still a geek after all.

Internet and TV

[Fox_1]

Nielsen [nielsen-netratings.com]
has the full report in PDF format, It was a short article

I imagine many people are like me, when I'm hanging out watching tv(which I do on my second monitor mainly), I'm also connected to the internet, either to followup on what I saw on TV, or to see if friends are on IM, or even just because I'm board and just do a sweep of news sites. The article says:

Nielsen//NetRatings concluded that mature markets are in wait of "the next big thing" whereas emerging markets were rife with opportunity for companies online. Some of the growth engines cited in the report is the proliferation of broadband and societal changes in media consumption.

I'm waiting for a more fully interactive TV/Computer/Internet I think, more then TIVO, and Digital Cable has given me.

Re:My internet usage has leveled off, too

[mogwai7]

How about 28 hours [dbeat.com]? Looks like a good idea to me...

Re:Does this mean we get to keep IPv4?

[Anonymous Coward]

With IPv6, you can't portscan all DSL users on a given network. You can only portscan hosts you know addresses for. Anything else is futile. :P

This alone would bring an end to all viruses spreading by random IP hopping.

Re:Internet apathy and the thirst for knowledge

[mati]

Sadly, I think you're probably overestimating the intellectual curiosity of the average adult human.

That factor, coupled with the stereotypical inability of older folk to really internalize new technological advances (yes I know there are plenty who do, talking about averages here). My uncle is a leader in engineering research but still does all his information acquisition (including the geeky recreational type) the old-fashioned way. There is of course the issue that much of the 'net can't really be considered a trusted, authoritative source, but at least as a place to quickly glean and survey things I find it invaluable.

Other older folk I've talked to, as I stated, just aren't very interested in the possibilities. Although when presented with a specific, practical problem, I'll often remind them that they can likely find a solution on the internet and they seem receptive. But it doesn't seem to sink in.

[don't flame me geezers, I do recognize that some of you can adapt]