Effective Measure released their May 2011 statistics recently, which included a report on the latest demographics for South Africa’s Internet users.
The report revealed that most Internet users in the country are using ADSL to access the net, and whites still dominate the online demographics.
The latest statistics further showed that most people access the Internet from work and are typically middle class citizens with a high monthly household income.
As part of Effective Measure’s demographics survey users were asked what they use the Internet for, and the most used online service was e-mail, followed by online banking and reading news.
The least used online services were share trading, dating and gambling. Blogging and podcast downloads also did not feature very high on the list.
The following table provides an overview of the popularity of online services among South African Internet users.
| Use the Internet for | |
| 88.55% | |
| Banking | 71.59% |
| Reading news / magazine articles on-line | 68.66% |
| Research / Obtaining information | 65.37% |
| Social Networking | 51.02% |
| Job Search | 34.74% |
| Shopping | 33.73% |
| Chat | 28.78% |
| Directory Services | 25.95% |
| Music downloads | 25.33% |
| Instant Messaging | 22.66% |
| Watch TV and Videos online | 16.31% |
| Listen to the radio online | 14.65% |
| Podcast / Video downloads | 13.57% |
| Blogging | 12.12% |
| Share Trading | 8.64% |
| Dating | 3.62% |
| Gambling | 2.81% |
| None of the above | 1.01% |
When it came to eCommerce online ticket sales are the most popular, followed by book, CD, DVD and game sales. The most popular items purchased online are listed in the table below.
| Items Purchased via Internet | |
| Tickets for shows or sport events | 44.21% |
| Travel Tickets: Bus, Train, Flights, Boat | 40.89% |
| Books | 40.00% |
| DVDs, Videos, Music (CD, K7, MP3′s) | 35.64% |
| Hotel Reservations | 33.44% |
| None of the above | 28.56% |
| Software | 26.82% |
| Holiday package | 21.91% |
| Flowers / Gifts | 18.13% |
| Computers | 13.80% |
| Toys and games | 13.52% |
| PC or Console Video games | 11.36% |
| Domain names, hosting services | 9.93% |
| Health and Beauty Products | 9.02% |
| Clothes and accessories | 8.91% |
| Food | 8.77% |
| Mass market electronics: TV, Radios, Mobile, HiFi | 8.63% |
| Cars, Motorbikes, Bicycles | 8.44% |
| Ringtones, games or Icons for Mobile phones | 8.32% |
| Sport shoes, Sport Clothes | 5.47% |
| Real Estate / Property | 4.68% |
| Alcoholic beverages (beer, wine, spirits etc) | 3.44% |
| Art objects | 2.30% |
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