"The number of days people go online remains steady, but the increasing length of people's online sessions shows that their comfort level with the medium continues to rise," said Doug McFarland, President, Media Metrix, the online ratings unit of Jupiter Media Metrix. "Businesses and advertisers with an eye to the future should note that an engaged and viable audience not only exists, but both the audience and its consumption of the medium continues to grow."

Highlights of the Media Metrix March 2001 Digital Media and Web Ratings:

• Napster Usage in the US - Napster Digital, which includes use of the service's Web sites and controversial music file-swapping applications, had 15.7 million unique visitors in March 2001 versus its peak this year of 16.9 million in February, causing it to fall in the rankings from number 13 in February 2001 to number 14 in March. While use of the application decreased from 15.2 million users in February 2001 to 12.1 million users in March, unique visitors to the Napster Web site increased from 5.9 million in February to 8.2 million in March. This change was due in part to a pop-up window launched from the Napster application that enables users to register for a mailing list.
  
  
• Napster Use Worldwide - While Napster's use has declined slightly in the US, the property has become dominant globally. In February 2001 Napster Digital was the seventh largest property with 29.4 million unique visitors among 14 leading wired countries. These countries—including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and US—represent more than 85 percent of the total online population worldwide.
  
  
• Top Newcomers - This month's notable top newcomers—sites that appeared in the ratings for the first time and had a minimum of 500,000 unique visitors—include: Mirreentry.com, a site dedicated to the reentry of the Russian space station, with 887,000 unique visitors; Sportsinteraction.com, a sports-betting site, with 702,000 unique visitors; and Bearshare.com, a site offering a free file-sharing program similar to Gnutella, with 520,000 unique visitors. All of these sites were among the top ten newcomers in March 2001.
  
  
• Traffic to Sports Sites Increases - Traffic to sports sites overall increased amid NCAA March Madness and Major League Baseball spring training, with unique visitors increasing from 22.4 million in February 2001 to 24.0 million in March. Sites with notable increases in unique visitors between February 2001 and March include: Mlb.com, which increased 162.6 percent to 2.5 million; Ncaa.org, which increased 100.6 percent to 510,000; Sportingnews.com, which increased 97.8 percent to 1.7 million; Sportsline.com sites, which increased 51.5 percent to 5.7 million; Fansonly.com, which increased 28.9 percent to 1.9 million; and ESPN sites, which increased 28.7 percent to 7.9 million.
  
  
• Breaking into the Media Metrix Top 50 - Sites to break into the March 2001 Top 50 include: X10.com, a discount retail store, at number 32 with 8.4 million unique visitors; Lowestbids.com, a real-time auction site, at number 39 with 7.5 million unique visitors; Internetfuel.com, an Internet marketing site, at number 42 with 7.5 million unique visitors; RealNames.com, a provider of a Web-naming and navigation platform, at number 43 with 7.5 million unique visitors; SBC Communications, a new consolidation of telecommunications sites, at number 44 with 7.3 million unique visitors; and EA Online, a group of gaming sites and online applications, at number 47 with 7.1 million unique visitors.

Courtesy of Jupiter Research Center