The journey to the new apartment begins on the Internet
Internet The Internet community continues to grow enormously in 2003. Users prefer to click on car and real estate markets and travel planning sites.
Internet The Internet community continues to grow enormously in 2003. Users prefer to click on car and real estate markets and travel planning sites, and the Internet remains by far the fastest growing medium in 2003. As the latest survey by MA Comis shows, a full 12.8 percent or 29,000 more people in German-speaking Switzerland went online between 2002 and 2003. According to the Wemf study, this makes the web a regularly used medium for 2581,000 German-speaking Swiss (aged 14 and over). The success story of the Internet is even more impressive if you look at the development since 1999, when the MA Comis was launched. In these four years, the number of users has practically doubled.
The net helps against wanderlust
The Internet is proving to be an increasingly attractive tool for certain activities and tasks. For example, when it comes to planning and booking trips and excursions on the computer. Last year, 67% of respondents consulted "city maps, route plans, maps", but this figure has now risen to 71%. The proportion of those who "plan trips" on the Internet also grew significantly - from 54 to 58 percent. The travel industry as a whole will increasingly rely on the speed and convenience of the Internet in the future. Take Swiss Air Limited, for example, which sells its low-cost flights online.
The same applies to electronic payment transactions, to which 40% of users now subscribe (previously 36%). Insurance is also in particularly good hands on the Internet. The proportion of surfers accessing relevant information has increased from 25% to 30%.
It is not just the practical benefits alone that are bringing further audience growth to the Internet. The entertainment sector was also on the rise, with 52% now going online for this purpose, up from 48% in the previous year. Even listening to the radio online is now a regular activity for more and more users - their share has risen from 16 to 20 percent (see also WW 30/03).
The fact that searches for cars and apartments are rapidly shifting to the Internet is something that print media are unlikely to be happy about. The retrieval of car and vehicle advertisements has once again risen sharply from 28 to 33 percent. Real estate and housing advertisements were on the rise online at a similar rate, increasing from 28 to 32 percent.
In contrast, other previous core functions of the Internet are becoming less important: only 55% of respondents were still interested in accessing daily news, compared to 59% in the previous year. This was directly felt by media sites, only a few of which still generated growth. Blick.ch is one of the latter. Its narrower user group (ENK = people aged 14 and over who use the website in question at least once a week, either at home or away from home) grew by far the most to 366,000 people (plus 111,000). Followed by 20min.ch with 192000 new regular visitors (plus 50000) and Sonntagszeitung.ch, which is now regularly consulted by 91000 users (plus 31000).
Daniel Schifferle
The net helps against wanderlust
The Internet is proving to be an increasingly attractive tool for certain activities and tasks. For example, when it comes to planning and booking trips and excursions on the computer. Last year, 67% of respondents consulted "city maps, route plans, maps", but this figure has now risen to 71%. The proportion of those who "plan trips" on the Internet also grew significantly - from 54 to 58 percent. The travel industry as a whole will increasingly rely on the speed and convenience of the Internet in the future. Take Swiss Air Limited, for example, which sells its low-cost flights online.
The same applies to electronic payment transactions, to which 40% of users now subscribe (previously 36%). Insurance is also in particularly good hands on the Internet. The proportion of surfers accessing relevant information has increased from 25% to 30%.
It is not just the practical benefits alone that are bringing further audience growth to the Internet. The entertainment sector was also on the rise, with 52% now going online for this purpose, up from 48% in the previous year. Even listening to the radio online is now a regular activity for more and more users - their share has risen from 16 to 20 percent (see also WW 30/03).
The fact that searches for cars and apartments are rapidly shifting to the Internet is something that print media are unlikely to be happy about. The retrieval of car and vehicle advertisements has once again risen sharply from 28 to 33 percent. Real estate and housing advertisements were on the rise online at a similar rate, increasing from 28 to 32 percent.
In contrast, other previous core functions of the Internet are becoming less important: only 55% of respondents were still interested in accessing daily news, compared to 59% in the previous year. This was directly felt by media sites, only a few of which still generated growth. Blick.ch is one of the latter. Its narrower user group (ENK = people aged 14 and over who use the website in question at least once a week, either at home or away from home) grew by far the most to 366,000 people (plus 111,000). Followed by 20min.ch with 192000 new regular visitors (plus 50000) and Sonntagszeitung.ch, which is now regularly consulted by 91000 users (plus 31000).
Daniel Schifferle
