Wave Issue 9037 4/07/99 Article 5-02

***Media Metrix Internet Research
(March 18)

To mark its third anniversary in Internet and Digital Media
measurement, Media Metrix has announced that it will launch a
series of data summaries to highlight the depth and breadth of
its Internet audience usage information.

This chronological comparison, which covers the Internet's
critical growth years -- from 1996 through the present --
provides a perspective on the Internet's dramatic evolution as a
mainstream, consumer medium.

According to Media Metrix, the number of households with working
PCs increased by over 40 percent (from 35.4 million to 50
million), while the number of households with modem access more
than doubled (from 18.2 million to 37.7 million) from January
1996 to January 1999.

In January 1996, the demographic profile of Internet users to be
predominantly male, with men 18 years of age and older
representing 82 percent of all users, while only 18 percent were
female. In 1999 the gender gap has vanished, with the ratio of
males to females 18 years or older now equal (50:50).

In 1996, education sites, where most visitors searched for
content, dominated the top 15 rankings followed by ISPs and
navigation sites; in contrast to 1999, there were no e-commerce
sites among the top 15 three years ago. In 1999 nearly all of the
top destinations offer content, communications, community and
commerce; the first site with a ".edu" extension (University of
Michigan) ranks number 92.

www.mediametrix.com