regularities in the behaviour of the russian internet audience alexander sharikov, professor of the...
TRANSCRIPT
REGULARITIES IN THE BEHAVIOUR REGULARITIES IN THE BEHAVIOUR
OF THE RUSSIAN INTERNET AUDIENCEOF THE RUSSIAN INTERNET AUDIENCE
Alexander SHARIKOV, Professor of the National
Research University «Higher School of Economics»,
Moscow, Russia
International Conference “Internet and Socio-Cultural Transformations in Information Society”. Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, September 7-12, 2013
International Conference “Internet and Socio-Cultural Transformations in Information Society”. Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, September 7-12, 2013
CONTENT
1.A few figures on Russian Internet
2. A brief history of the Russian Internet audience research
3. Contemporary results of the Russian Internet audience research
.RU – 4,8 mln
.РФ – 0,8 mln
.SU – 0,1 mln
At September 7, 2013 in Russia there were
around 5,7 mln registered second-level
domains:
A few figures on Russian Internet
Source: StatDom.ru
In 2012 the number of Internet users in Russia took the 6th place in the world
and the 1st place in Europe
Source: World Bank, 2012
Rank Country Number of users (mln)
1 China 571,3
2 USA 254,3
3 India 155,6
4 Japan 100,8
5 Brazil 99,0
6 Russia 76,5
7 Germany 68,8
8 Nigeria 55,5
Source: Institute Fonda Obshchestvennoye Mnenie (FOM Public Opinion Foundation Institute), 2013 Q1
55% of Russian population aged 18 and elder use Internet, at least, once per month
43% use Internet daily
53% use Internet, at least, once per week
A brief history of the Russian Internet audience research
The Internet audience research in Russia began in 1995 (WCIOM, COMCON-2 et al.). The number of Internet users were under 1%, i.e. at the level of statistical error.
This process was initiated by advertising actors because in USA in 1994 the first Internet banner appeared. It was the advertisement placed by AT&T company.
In 1996 automatic Internet counters were introduced in Russia.
The company «Stack» introduced in Russia the search engine «Rambler» and counters.
But information about audience produced by internet counter was not enough for advertising actors because it was impossible to reveal demographic structure of the audience.
In 1998 the Russian company “InfoArt” organized the first “Russian Internet Population Census”.
The number of Russian Internet users was estimated at 2,2 mln.
• male• age 25-30• higher (university) education• IT specialist
• using the Internet from his office
A conventional “portrait of average Russian Internet user” was compiled:
1998 is the beginning of the Internet audience monitoring measurements in Russia.
Among first research centers started these kind of measurement were :
• COMCON-2
• Gallup Media
Data obtained both with Rambler’s counters and monitoring polls revealed some regularities in Russian Internet audience behavior.
In particular, they discovered that:
• number of users entering into cyberspace depends on time of day
• number of users varies periodically day by day
Data by «Rambler», 1998.
0,0
0,1
0,2
0,3
0,4
0:00
6:00
12:0
0
18:0
0
0:00
6:00
12:0
0
18:0
0
0:00
6:00
12:0
0
18:0
0
0:00
6:00
12:0
0
18:0
0
0:00
6:00
12:0
0
18:0
0
0:00
6:00
Aud
ienc
e si
ze,%
• The minimum of audience size was observed at 5:00
• the maximum of audience size was observed during working day time (12:00-18:00)
In particular, they discovered that:
0,0
0,1
0,2
0,3
0,4
4:00
5:00
6:00
7:00
8:00
9:00
10:0
0
11:0
012
:00
13:0
0
14:0
015
:00
16:0
0
17:0
018
:00
19:0
0
20:0
021
:00
22:0
0
23:0
00:0
0
1:00
2:00
3:00
4:00
audi
ence
siz
e, %
Data by «Rambler», 1998.
Contemporary results of the Russian Internet audience research
In modern situation some different tendencies are observed although the conclusion about periodicity is true.
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
06:0
0
12:0
0
18:0
0
00:0
0
06:0
0
12:0
0
18:0
0
00:0
0
06:0
0
12:0
0
18:0
0
00:0
0
06:0
0
12:0
0
18:0
0
00:0
0
06:0
0
12:0
0
18:0
0
00:0
0
06:0
0
12:0
0
18:0
0
00:0
0
06:0
0
12:0
0
18:0
0
00:0
0
Pe
rce
nt
of
po
pu
lati
on
Data by TNS-Russia Jul-Dec 2012, Russian cities 100.000+, age 12+
The shape of the audience size day part distribution has been changed.
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
06:0
0
07:0
0
08:0
0
09:0
0
10:0
0
11:0
0
12:0
0
13:0
0
14:0
0
15:0
0
16:0
0
17:0
0
18:0
0
19:0
0
20:0
0
21:0
0
22:0
0
23:0
0
00:0
0
01:0
0
02:0
0
03:0
0
04:0
0
05:0
0
Per
cen
t of p
op
ula
tion
workday
weekend
Data by TNS-Russia Jul-Dec 2012, Russian cities 100.000+, age 12+
The audience size has markedly increased in leisure-time (19:00-01:00).
Now they observe the level of weekly cycling of the Russian Internet audience size.
54,1% 53,9% 53,4% 53,2%51,5%
43,4%46,6%
Monday Tuesday W ednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Ave
rag
ed D
aily
Rea
ch,
%
Data by TNS-Russia Jul-Dec 2012, Russian cities 100.000+, age 12+
There is one more level of cycling that could be characterized as seasonal one.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Nov '
07
Jan'
08
Mar
'08
May
'08
Jul'0
8
Sen'
08
Nov '
08
Jan
'09
Mar
'09
May
'09
Jul '0
9
Sen
'09
Nov '
09
Jan
'10
Mar
'10
May
'10
Jul '1
0
Sen
'10
Nov '
10
Jan
'11
Mar
'11
May
'11
Jul '1
1
Sen
'11
Nov '
11
Jan
'12
Mar
'12
May
'12
Jul '1
2
Sen
'12
Nov '
12
Jan
'13
Mar
'13
May
'13
Jul '1
3
Perc
ent o
f pop
ulati
on
July 2008July 2009
July 2010July 2011
July 2012
July 2013
Data by TNS-Russia Jul-Dec 2012, Russian cities 100.000+, age 12+
It is interesting to compare day part distributions of Russian Internet audience versus to both TV and radio audiences.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
06:0
0
07:0
0
08:0
0
09:0
0
10:0
0
11:0
0
12:0
0
13:0
0
14:0
0
15:0
0
16:0
0
17:0
0
18:0
0
19:0
0
20:0
0
21:0
0
22:0
0
23:0
0
00:0
0
01:0
0
02:0
0
03:0
0
04:0
0
05:0
0
Perc
ent o
f pop
ulati
on
TV
Radio
Internet
Data by TNS-Russia Jul-Dec 2012, Russian cities 100.000+, age 12+
Will the Internet be a serious competitor of traditional television?
Percent of respondents
The Internet is not a serious competitor for the traditional television
23,5 %
The Internet is (or will be) a competitor for commercial TV operator
17,6 %
The Internet can be a competitor for all traditional television
18,6 %
The further technological development will lead to convergence of traditional TV and Internet-TV
14,4 %
Difficult to say 25, 9 %
Data by the Institute of Sociology, Russian Academy of Sciences, December 2012, Russian population aged 18+
The «portrait of an average Internet user» in Russia in 2012 г:
• female
• aged 30-35
• high school education
• using Internet at home
Data by TNS-Russia Jul-Dec 2012, Russian cities 100.000+, age 12+
The transformation of the «portrait of an average Internet user» in Russia 2012 vs 1998:
1998 2012
Male Female
Aged 25-30 Aged 30-35
Higher education Higher education
Office Home
Data by TNS-Russia Jan-Jun 2012, Russian cities 100.000+, age 12+
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 42 45 48 51 54 57 60 63 66 69 72 75 78
Age, years
We
ek
ly R
ea
ch
, %
The age distribution of weekly Internet audience in Russia in 2012 (Q1)
18
The age distribution of weekly audience for Internet, TV and radio in Russia in 2012 (Q1)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 70 72 74 76 78
Age, years
Wee
kly
Reac
h, %
TV
Radio
Internet
18 70
Conclusions:
1. The Russian Internet which was formed in early 1990s, initially, was developing as an professional
cyber-environment for specialists in the field of information technology until the end of 1990s.
2. The growth of the audience during last 18 years modified Russian Internet’s functions. At 2013 the most spread functions seem to be entertainment and interpersonal communication via Internet.
3. During 18 years of Internet research in Russia some specific regularities in behavior of the total Russian Internet audience have been discovered.
4. The total Russian Internet audience demonstrates, at least, three levels of periodicity: daily, weekly and yearly. These regularities could be used to predict the total Russian Internet audience size in the nearest future.
Conclusions:
5. Comparisons of the total Russian Internet audience day part distribution versus, on the one hand, the total Russian TV audience day part distribution and, on the other hand, the total Russian radio audience day part distribution lead to the conclusion that the Internet is not a strong competitor for both radio and television in the nearest future.
6. The interesting tendency in the demographic structure of the Russian Internet audience is observed. In 1998 it was, mainly, men of 25-30 years old, specialists in IT technology who used Internet in their office. In 2013 it is, mainly, women of 30-35 years old, working in very different areas who use Internet at home.
Conclusions:
7. Such transformation could be explained by new communicative forms (as for example, social networks) and a very large number of entertainments existing in the modern Internet.
Thank you!