TOKYO (02/04/2000) - A new survey of the Japanese Internet marketplace has confirmed its position as number one in Asia, but provides a lower estimate of the number of people online than previous studies.
Based on interviews with almost 55,000 households selected by random digit dialing in November and December last year, the Nielsen//NetRatings survey estimated the total Internet user base in Japan at 15.4 million users, ACNielsen Japan and Net Ratings Japan Inc. said in a statement issued earlier this week.
The interviews identified users who have accessed the Internet at least once in the preceding month. Of the total user base, 8.7 million had access to the Internet at home while 11.8 million accessed the network away from home, at companies or cybercafes. As many as 5.1 million had access both at home and outside of the home, according to the statement.
Based on these figures and estimates of PC penetration in Japan, the report pegged Japan's Internet penetration at 13 percent -- or 45 percent of all homes with PCs. An estimated 4 percent of homes now also have mobile telephones that can access some type of Internet-based service. The study also found that Japanese men continue to outnumber women online at a 63:37 ratio.
The new survey provides a lower estimate of the local Internet market than two other reports published in mid-1999.
The annual White Paper on Communications in Japan, published by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, estimated Japan's Internet user base at 16.9 million at the end of March 1999, while the Internet White Paper published by the Internet Association of Japan (IAJ) said the country had 15.1 million users at the end of March 1999. The IAJ further projected 18.4 million users online by the end of 1999.
A spokesman for Nielsen//Netratings, Takahiro Osaki, said the discrepances between the survey results were likely a result of different survey methods and how an Internet user was defined.
In terms of users, Japan outranks other leading Asian Internet markets, such as Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, which between them have some 9 million users.
However, the penetration rate is higher in all these other markets bar Taiwan, which has a similar penetration rate to Japan at 14 percent. In the other four nations, Hong Kong lags at 16 percent while Australia, New Zealand and Singapore all have rates in excess of 30 percent.
More information about the Nielsen//NetRatings Japan Internet market survey can be found on the Web at http://www.netratings.co.jp/.,