Posted on Saturday, April 21 2007 @ 8:31 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
The firm says there will be 97.2 million U.S. women online this year, making up 51.7% of the total U.S. online population. By 2011 this is expected to increase to 51.9%.
According to eMarketer's analysis, female Internet usage has surpassed male usage for some time. Other researchers are now coming to that same conclusion.Unfortunately the report doesn't state how many percent will look as good as the Firefox babe on the right
The University of Southern California's Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future reported that in 2006 the percentage of females who went online had, for the first time in the six years the center has conducted the survey, surpassed males. It reported that 78.4% of the female population ages 12 and older go online, vs. 76.7% of males.
Female usage has risen 12.4 percentage points since 2000, while male usage is up 3.2 points. The drop in male usage between 2005 and 2006 is something that bears close attention, and eMarketer will report on the results from USC's 2007 survey when it becomes available.
Not only do females make up the majority of Internet users, but more of the female population goes online. This year, an estimated 66.2% of US females ages 3 and older will use the Internet at least once a month, compared with 64.2% of males, according to eMarketer. By 2011, 72.1% of females are expected to go online, vs. 69.3% of males.
Researchers that survey only the adult population still find that a greater percentage of males go online. MORI Research, for example, reported that as of March-April 2006, 73% of adult females and 79% of adult males went online. The Pew Internet & American Life Project reported that as of February-April 2006, 71% of adult females went online, vs. 74% of adult males.
