Newspaper website visits soar
Altogether 6,7-million visits were made to websites run by the associationa??s members in the June quarter, up 48% from 4,5-million a year ago.
The majority of visitors were from overseas, accounting for 63% of the traffic.
The local audience grew 42%, with 2,48-million visitors.
The figures showed clearly the use of online media was expanding, the association said. That growth was welcome, but internet penetration in SA still had to catch up with overseas markets. Lower-income groups still remained largely untapped because of the cost of computers and internet access.
South African web users were predominantly from higher-income groups in urban Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. They were typically well-educated, with 82% having completed further education, and most accessed the internet from their office computers.
The gender split was almost equal, with 51% of traffic from men and 49% from women.
The wealth of the user group was fuelling online advertising, which was expected to top R183m by the end of the year.
Websites were a mature and increasingly important part of the media industry, and were gaining respect from advertisers, said association chairman Russell Hanly.
"The challenge the industry must now overcome is removing the digital divide that exists in SA. This can only be removed by further driving down the costs and increasing the accessibility of online media," Hanly said.
The most popular site was Media24, with an average of 2,43 million users every month, putting it well ahead of its closest rival, Independent Online, with an average of 1,9-million monthly visitors. None of the other members managed to attract more than a million visits a month.
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