Netsurfer Digest Subscriber Demographics:
Our Changing Readership

The following table shows the results of the Netsurfer Digest Reader Survey for the periods June 1994 - May 1995 and November 1995 - June 1996. We didn't do any fancy statistical analysis, so here are a couple of trends by the old eyeball method:

• Our readership is getting more diverse in terms of age, gender, and occupation.
• There is a large increase in home use, with concurrent jumps in the use of Windows, 28k modems, and SLIP/PPP. Macintoshes, however, took it on the chin with a drop of almost 10 percentage points.
• Online services and BBS's both saw declining use. CompuServe's fall behind AOL is reflected in the big drop in CompuServe users among our readers.
• Archie and gopher are dying off as web access reaches near-saturation levels.
• Interest in USENET news is giving way to using the Net for investment and money management information.

  Period                             Jun 94 - May 95   Nov 95 - Jun 96

  Number of responses                12050              4408
  Response rate                             46%               24%

  Male                               10853  90%         3707  84%
  Female                              1145  10% 100%     709  16% 100%

  Age:
    10-19                              658   5%          219   5%
    20-29                             3600  30%         1025  23%
    30-39                             3216  27%         1132  26%
    40-49                             2577  21%         1073  24%
    50-59                              793   7%          460  10%
    60+                                183   2%  92%     170   4%  93%

  Profession:
    Software engineer/consultant      2598  22%          703  16%
    Hardware engineer/consultant       716   6%          175   4%
    Network engineer/consultant       1135   9%          334   8%
    Writer/Editor                      703   6%          292   7%
    Graphic Artist/Designer            377   3%          132   3%
    Artist                             477   4%          158   4%
    Teacher/Professor                  904   8%          319   7%
    Scientist/Researcher               752   6%          158   4%
    Lawyer                             153   1%           68   2%
    Doctor                             175   1%           69   2%
    Librarian                          142   1%           92   2%
    Military                           180   1%          104   2%
    Government                         439   4%          206   5%
    Business Manager                   909   8%          440  10%
    Clerical or Office Worker          263   2%          163   4%
    Student                           2263  19%          596  14%
    Other                             2239  19% 120%    1041  24% 115%

  Annual income:
    Less than $25,000                 2939  24%          971  22%
    $25,000-$35,000                   1881  16%          779  18%
    $35,000-$50,000                   2406  20%          876  20%
    $50,000-$70,000                   2016  17%          735  17%
    Over $70,000                      1800  15%  92%     641  15%  91%

  Operating system:
    PC/Windows, DOS                   7791  65%         3564  81%
    OS/2                               499   4%          104   2%
    Macintosh                         2801  23%          621  14%
    Unix                              2050  17%          332   8%
    Other                             2589  21% 131%    1134  26% 131%

  Online connection speed:
    2400 bps                           337   3%           55   1%
    9600 bps                           606   5%          102   3%
    14400 bps                         5668  47%         1569  36%
    28800 bps                         1802  15%         1925  44%
    56k bps                           1105   9%          264   6%
    T1 or faster                      1982  16%  95%     460  10%  99%

  Internet connection:
    E-mail                            3501  29%         1393  32%
    Shell account                     3219  27%          716  16%
    SLIP/PPP                          6900  57%         2971  67%
    Full TCP/IP                       4359  36% 149%    1318  30% 145%

  Where you get Internet connection:
    At work                           6991  58%         2229  51%
    At school                         2394  20%          490  11%
    At home                           7579  63% 141%    3605  82% 143%

  Services where you maintain accounts:
    America Online                    2067  17%          638  14%
    Compuserve                        2811  23%          604  14%
    Delphi                             219   2%           23   1%
    Prodigy                            562   5%          146   3%
    GEnie                              173   1%           17   0%
    eWorld                             355   3%           42   1%
    BBS's                             4156  34%  86%     971  22%  55%

  Interests:
    Mail/Mailing Lists                9696  80%         3386  77%
    USENET News                       9402  78%         2725  62%
    Chat/Social                       2842  24%         1142  26%
    Education                           14   0%            4   0%
    Erotica                           2792  23%          878  20%
    Files/Shareware                   9088  75%         3170  72%
    Games/Entertainment               4422  37%         1680  38%
    Investment/Money Management       2331  19%         1072  24%
    News/Information                 10058  83% 420%    3771  86% 404%

  Internet services used:
    World Wide Web                   11332  94%         4335  98%
    FTP                              10830  90%         3429  78%
    Gopher                            8744  73%         1728  39%
    Archie                            6470  54% 310%    1115  25% 241%

  Time online (hr/wk):
    1-5                               2841  24%          766  17%
    6-10                              3679  31%         1261  29%
    11-15                             1744  14%          639  14%
    16-20                             1447  12%          573  13%
    21-30                              885   7%          458  10%
    31-40                              322   3%          175   4%
    41+                                249   2%  93%     123   3%  91%