According to a research conducted by the Online Publishers Association consumer spending on online content has seen a steady increase every quarter since 2001. The first quarter of 2001 saw a spending of $118 million as compared to $228 million in the fourth quarter of 2001. The figures for the first, second and third quarter for 2002 are $296 million, $318 million, and $361 million respectively.
The total market for paid online content in the U.S. grew to $361.4 million for the third quarter, a 14 percent gain over the previous quarter. The market in the year 2002 is estimated to be around $ 1.3 billion. Over 10% of Internet users have paid for online content and this ratio is growing.
According to a study released by the Online Publishers Association (OPA), conducted by comScore Networks, US consumers spent $675 million on online content in 2001. This study concluded that consumers spent most money on Business Content, Entertainment, Personals and online dating. Other categories that saw a rise in spending are research, general news, games, community directories, credit and personal help, sports, and greeting cards.
A recent report on the US Market on Spending published by the Online Publishers Association and comScore indicates a change in the spending in terms of different categories. The Personals/Dating category surpassed Business/Investing content to become the leading paid content category in Quarter 3 of 2002, with $87 million in revenues, a 387% gain over the same quarter in 2001. Given below are the most popular paid content categories as per this report.
The most popular paid Content Categories
Business Content – Includes business news (e.g., WSJ.com), business research (e.g., eMarketer.com), investment advice (e.g., changewave.com) and digital content used for business purposes (e.g., ArtToday.com).
Community Directories – Includes sites whose content is created in large part through the efforts of other site visitors, for example, Ancestry.com, IMDB.com and Classmates.com.
Credit Help – Includes sites offering access to consumer credit history records and related content, for example ConsumerInfo.com and CreditExpert.com.
Entertainment/Lifestyles – Includes digital music and multimedia (e.g., Real.com and PressPlay.com), as well as erotica (e.g., Playboy.com), humor, recipes and other content intended for amusement, leisure and diversion.
Games – Includes online games that are played through a Web browser, both as distributed through portal sites (e.g., Yahoo! and Go.com), and offered direct through specialized gaming sites such as Alien Adoption Agency, Case's Ladder and The Well Dressed SIM.
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