Survey Monitor April 2003

More than 10 million African-Americans are online

New York-based Nielsen//NetRatings reports that the African-American Interact audience has grown to more than 10 million surfers, comprising almost 8 percent of the tota! home-and-work-combined online population. The African-American Intemet population spent a total of 44 hours on the Web, initiated 42 sessions, and viewed 1,186 pages online in January 2003. In comparison, the total online population spent more than 50 hours surfing the Web, logged 52 sessions and viewed 1,444 pages during the same month.

Overall, the top 10 sites include a variety of cultural, entertainment and educational themes. BlackPlanet.com was the top online destination for African-Americans (see table). The site garnered the highest concentration of African-Americans, with 75 percent of its traffic, or 892,000 unique visitors, being of African-American descent. Following closely, music site Zjamz.com was the second-most visited destination, with a 71 percent concentration of African-American surfers. In third, BET Interactive garnered a unique audience of 554,000 African-Americans, representing 63 percent of the site’s total traffic.

"African-Americans surpassing the 10 million unique visitor mark point to the continuing maturation of the online medium," says Charles Buchwalter, vice president of client analytics, Nielserd/NetRatings. "And the emergence of strong sites with a high concentration of African-American visitors gives marketers ample opportunities to target their messages to a qualified, growing audience."

According to the latest Nielserd/NetRatings NetView data, nearly one-third or 32 percent of the African-American Internet audience in the U.S. logged onto the Internet through a high-speed coimection, an increase of 55 percent from January 2002. "A factor contributing to this growth is the accessibility of highspeed bandwidth. Just a year ago, many major markets could not provide surfers with the option of broadband service, but with increased competition and higher demand for speed many of these markets are now fully wired," says Buchwalter. "This double-digit growth rate may point to broadband technology breaking through the various segments of the population in an effort to become the standard technology used to access the Internet in the U.S."

U.S. Hispanics heavy users of online services

The size oft.he online Hispanic population is growing rapidly, according to results from the U.S. Hispanic Cyberstudy from America Online, Inc. and RoperASW. Hispanic consumers report spending more time online than total U.S. online consumers - nearly 10 hours a week at home (9.5) vs. 8.4 hours for all U.S. online consumers and 13.8 hours a week at work vs. 9.6 hours for all U.S. online consumers. In addition, Hispanics surveyed spend 16 percent more time online per week (15.7 hours home/work combined) vs. total U.S. online adults (13.5 hours home/work combined). Hispanics surveyed spend 12 percent more time online per week from home (9.5 vs. 8.4 total U.S. online adults) and 44 percent more time online per week from work (13.8 vs. 9.6 total U.S. online adults). Hispanic online consumers surveyed want bilingual online service - with 83 percent saying access to English content is very or somewhat important, and 58 percent saying the same of Spanish content.

Hispanic online consumers report heavy usage of the online medium to communicate, using e-mail, instant messaging and sharing photos to pass on important news and to stay in touch with old and new friends and acquaintances.

• More than two-thirds (69 percent) of those surveyed regularly or occasionally send pictures to and receive pictures from family and friends online.
• Two-thirds of those surveyed regularly or occasionally (66 percent) use online instant messaging to communicate, a significantly higher proportion than the total U.S. online consumer population (48 percent).
• Approximately three-quarters (76 percent) of U.S. Hispanic online consumers surveyed regularly or occasionally use the online medium to communicate with friends or family members.
• More than the total U.S. online consumer population (31 percent), over four in 10 Hispanic online consumers (43 percent) surveyed report they provide only an e-mail address as the preferred means of staying in touch with someone they just met. In comparison, 19 percent of online Hispanics surveyed provide new friends with only a telephone number.
• Seven in 10 (69 percent) Hispanic online consumers surveyed believed that being online has helped them stay in touch with people in their lives. One-third (36 percent) also said being online has helped them reconnect with someone they lost contact with from their past.
• Nearly half (48 percent) of the Hispanic online consumers surveyed have sent or received an e-mail announcing major personal news, such as the birth of a child, a wedding or a new job.

The survey also revealed that online Hispanics emerge as more avid consumers of entertainment-related online features and activities than total U.S. online consumers, with music, in particular, shown as a strong online activity. It also indicates that Hispanic online consumers purchase tickets for entertainment-related events and more consumer electronics. Key findings include:

• Hispanic online consumers surveyed report being more active in online entertainment activities than their total U.S. online counterparts, with half (50 percent) reporting they regularly or occasionally "listen to music like you do on the radio" (compared with 40 percent of total U.S. online consumers), 44 percent reporting "downloading music files" (vs. 33 percent), and 36 percent reporting "watching video clips" (vs. 29 percent).
• Hispanic online consumers surveyed who have made purchases online report spending an average of $439 over the past three months, on the heels of the generally more mature total online U.S. shoppers with a reported average of $543. Additionally, more than one-third (37 percent) of online Hispanics surveyed reported they expect to increase their number of online purchases.
• Hispanic online consumers surveyed who have shopped online are as likely as total U.S. online consumers to say they regularly or occasionally purchase the following items online: concert, event or movie tickets (42 percent vs. 38 percent); CDs or DVDs (40 percent vs. 37 percent); but are significantly more likely than total online shoppers to purchase consumer electronics online (40 percent vs. 30 percent) and to have groceries delivered to their home (13 percent vs. 5 percent). Additional purchases made by Hispanic online shoppers include clothing, shoes or apparel (40 percent vs. 50 percent); and computer hardware and software (38 percent vs. 44 percent).
• A majority of Hispanic online consumers surveyed say that going online is the best way to: start the process of learning about a product and/or service they might want to buy (61 percent); learn about features and benefits of a specific brand of product and/or service (52 percent); learn about different brands of product and/or service that are available (50 percent); and compare prices of theproduct and/or service (50 percent).
• A significant portion of Hispanic online consumers surveyed find online advertising informative (41 percent), a greater percentage than total U.S. online consumers (24 percent).
• More than half (53 percent) of Hispanic online consumers surveyed who have ever made a purchase online report that they have recommended a specific shopping Web site to a friend or family member.
• More than four in 10 (43 percent) of Hispanic online consumer parents surveyed report their children have asked them to purchase something they saw online.

Hispanic online consumers surveyed who have not yet made a purchase online agree that concerns about security of credit card information (58 percent), lack of a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee (56 percent) and lack of free shipping (44 percent) are impediments to shopping online. The study underscores the belief in the importance of children being online, with two-thirds (67 percent) of Hispanic online consumers surveyed stating that it is important for children today to know how to go online and use the Internet. In addition, the study found:

• Hispanic online consumer parents also believe being online has a positive effect on their children: two-thirds (66 percent) of Hispanic online consumer parents surveyed said it has had a positive effect on their skills for entering the job market one day and approximately eight in 10 (77 percent) believe it has had a positive effect on the quality of their child’s homework.
• More than half (59 percent) of Hispanic online consumer parents surveyed use some kind of parental control feature/method of automatically limiting places children can visit online. Moreover, an overwhelming majority (79 percent) set rules for their children’s use of the medium. Among those who set rules, the top rules include the following: requiring
  they do not give out personal information online (95 percent); limiting the amount of time they can spendonline (93 percent); restricting areas they can visit (91 percent); and letting them go online only when their homework is done (86 percent).
• More than half of Hispanic online consumer parents surveyed (56 percent) require that an adult be present when their children go online. An overwhelming majority of Hispanic online consumer parents surveyed (85 percent) have gone online while sitting together with their children.

Hispanic online consumers surveyed expressed interest in many of the new or emerging online activities asked about in the Cyberstudy. For example:

• Six in 10 Hispanic online consumers surveyed (60 percent) said they are very or somewhat interested in renewing or already do renew their driver’s license online.
• Approximately half of Hispanic online consumers surveyed are also interested in registering or already have registered to vote/voting online (50 percent) and have received/paid their household bills online (47 percent).
• About four in 10 Hispanic online consumers surveyed (43 percent) are interested in or already engage in ordering prescription medicine online, checking voice mail messages using a computer (43 percent), and getting a teacher to help their child with homework online (39 percent).

The AOL/RoperASW Hispanic Cyberstudy was conducted via telephone among a random sample of 301 Hispanic home Internet/online subscribers. Bilingual interviewers were used and respondents were given the option of conducting the interview in English or Spanish. The interviews were conducted from October 1, 2002 to October 28, 2002. The margin of error is 4-6 percent for the total sample.

Food portions getting larger

Between 1977 and 1996, portion sizes for key food groups grew markedly in the United States, not only at fast-food restaurants but also in homes and at conventional restaurants, a study shows.

The observation is one more indication of broad changes in the way Americans eat and another reason for the widespread rise in obesity among U.S. children and adults, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers say. It is believed to be the first documentation that at any given meal, on average, the typical American eats more than he or she did only a few decades ago.

A report on the findings appeared in the January 22 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Authors are doctoral student Samara Joy Nielsen and Dr. Barry M. Popkin, professor of nutrition at the UNC schools of public health and medicine and a fellow at the Carolina Population Center.

"Many people have thought that portion sizes might be on the rise, but until now, there have been no empirical data to document actual increases," Nielsen says. "We think this is important information not only because it documents this trend, but also because obesity presents a growing health threat both in the United States and abroad."

The research involved analyzing nationally representative data from the 1977-78 Nationwide Food Consumption Survey and three separate Continuing Surveys of Food Intake by Individuals. The sample consisted of 63,380 people ages 2 and older.

Nielsen and Popkin calculated the average amounts of specific foods eaten in both calories and ounces at" home, in restaurants and in fast-food restaurants for each survey year. "Portion sizes varied by food source, with the largest being consumed at fast-food establishments and the smallest at restaurants," she says. "Between 1977 and 1996, portion sizes increased for salty snacks, desserts, soft drinks, fruit drinks, french fries, hamburgers, cheeseburgers and Mexican food."

Such increases were large, Nielsen says. "The quantity of salty snacks increased by 93 calories or 0.6 ounces, soft drinks by 49 calories or 6.8 ounces, hamburgers by 97 calories or 1.3 ounces, french fries by 68 calories or 0.5 ounces and Mexican food by 133 calories, or 1.7 ounces," she says.

"There hasn’t been enough focus on the sizes of portions, and that includes soft drinks and fruit drinks as well. Sometimes a conflict even exists between good nutrition and eeonom significantly larger-size portion Of french fries or soft drink for a very small extra cost."

When combined with less physical activity than in decades past, greater. energy consumption significantly raises the risk of heart disease, stroke, hypertension, diabetes and other health threats, Popkin says. Related recent UNC findings were that all age groups ate more restaurant food - including fast food - than a generationago. "Dietary patterns are rapidlyshifting in the United States, and these changes are important contributors to the growing epidemic of obesity and diabetes facing Americans," he says. "Clearly the problem is that Americans are eating too much food. The shifts in where we are eating, as well as the types of food and how much, are critical."

UNC researchers also earlier found large increases in snack eating. In 1977, for example, snacks produced 11.3 percent of the average American’s energy intake, while by 1996 that figure had climbed to 17.7 pement, which is more than a 50 percent increase. "Although the elderly still snack the least, with 14 percent of their energy coming from snacks, they have had the largest jump in snacking, up from 7.7 percent in 1977, which is almost double," Nielsen says. "Among people under age 39, pizza and salty snack consumption rose as much as 143 percent."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture supported the surveys, which involved Interviewing Americans about what and where they and their children had eaten over the previous few days and where the food they ate came, from such as stores and vending machines.

America’s most-loved brands

Carefree, Ariz.-based NameQuest has released its list of America’s top 20 most-loved brands, based on its research, which sought to measure consumers’ preference for selected brands based on factors that contribute to building consumer-brand relationships. In addition, the research examined the correlation between brand preference and advertising spending.

NameQuest’s proprietary Preference Index suggests that factors such as trust, quality and value are more potent than advertising spending in contributing to consumers’ brand preferences. NameQ.uest compared high and low spenders in seven brand categories with consumers’ high and low brand preference scores and found there is no correlation between brand preference and advertising expenditures.

The list of 130 brands was tested using the NameQuest Online survey research tool. The brands researched were selected from Advertising Age’s 2002 Exclusive Ranking of The Nation’s Top Spenders and 100 Leading National Advertisers list. The sample size was 2,600.