NEW DELHI, September 10: Indiatimes is most preferred news source on the Web for almost one out of every three Net users in India, according to a recent survey of India's Internet scene. Be it general, sport or event related news, it is the top player in this category with 30 per cent user share.
Indiatimes’ popularity can be attributed to its close association with Times of India, one of the largest circulated dailies in the country. The only news channel to feature in the top five is NDTV, the Web edition of which is the second largest news source while Rediff occupies third position as an online news provider. The Web avatar of ESPN STAR is also a favoured destination for sports related news and is ranked fourth.
These are some of the many findings laid threadbare by one of the largest online surveys conducted by JuxtConsult in April 2005 among Internet users in India. The survey sampled more than 30,000 individuals to unravel the identity of Net users along with their lifestyle choices. To estimate the penetration of the Internet among urban Indians, a telephonic survey of 3,000 people was also executed in 10 cities. JuxtConsult is a joint effort of Indicus Analytics and Webchutney.
The upper limit of the total number of urban Net users is estimated at 23 million. Around 17.5 million of these urban Indians use the Internet with certain consistency, while another 5.2 million do it sparingly. This puts the penetration of Internet among urban Indians at 9 per cent.
According to the study, the usage loyalty ratio for checking general/sport/event news is 27 per cent. Usage loyalty implies that those registered with a particular website for a particular activity (say) for email are more likely to think of utilising other services on offer on the same website. So, for instance, about 27 per cent of those visiting a particular website for email are also likely to use it for news requirements, but only 5 per cent of those are likely to use the same website for their job search purposes.
Gender-specific preferences emerge in this category too. Indiatimes is the top online news source for both male and female net users � 30 per cent for both. For male users, NDTV and rediff are second and third ranked respectively.For female users, MSN and NDTV occupy the second and third positions respectively.
There are surprises on other counts too � Indiatimes for all its marketing among the youth is actually preferred by people who are more than twice the age of the target visitors. Indiatimes, nevertheless, tops in all age groups with the highest loyalty of 36 per cent among the 41-55 year users. The 13-18 year olds prefer Indiatimes the least � 26 per cent. For 13 to 24 year olds, ESPN STAR is the second ranked source with 17 per cent.
For 25-35 year olds, NDTV is second choice while for users above 55 years, MSN is second ranked. Rediff occupies the third position (around 11 per cent usage overall) for all age groups except for 19-24 year old users.
Indiatimes remains number one for all occupational Net using groups with 30 per cent usage aggregate. NDTV and Rediff juggle the second and third ranks between themselves among news websites. Some of the occupational groups are industrialists, executives, students, and housewives.
Indiatimes (30 per cent), NDTV (11 per cent) and Rediff (11 per cent) are the top three news websites for users in metros, urban uptowns and emerging towns. Indiatimes, NDTV and Rediff are top three again for users in northern, southern and eastern regions. For users in western India, Rediff and NDTV are second and third ranked with Indiatimes having maximum popularity with users in the west (35 per cent). NDTV is more popular with users in south India (16 per cent).
