Internet Gambling More Addictive than Traditional Gambling?
Much hype and media attention has surrounded a recent report by the American Psychological Association (APA) that suggests Internet gambling leads to pathological behavior more often than traditional forms of gambling.
The APA's study, as reported in the Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, found that while Internet gambling was the least common gambling activity, the occurrence of problematic or pathologic behaviors was 74 percent of those who had gambled online.
On a side note, a readers poll conducted by IGamingNews.com in February asked readers whether they thought Internet gambling was more addictive than traditional gambling. Fifty-three percent thought was more addictive and 47 percent did not.
Sports Sites Sidetrack Workers
comScore Networks, the permission-based research firm that tracks English-speaking Internet users from around the world, released figures this week indicating workers with Internet connections are increasingly surfing sports sites while on the job.
The results of the latest research show an increase of 9 percent in the total number of visitors to English-language Web sites from February 2001 to February 2002. Over the same period, the number of visitors to English-language sports sites jumped 24 percent to 82.1 million. In the U.S., comScore estimates the number of Internet users visiting sports sites from their place of work increased 20 percent to 19 million.
Interestingly, comScore reports that the sports site that draws the largest international audience is skateboarding.com.
Despite Reluctance by Users, Online Content Revenues Expected to Soar
New research by Jupiter MediaMetrix suggest that paying for content online, while still undesirable by the majority of Internet users, will begin generating significant revenues for the sites that employ various subscription services.
Revenue for general content was predicted by Jupiter to reach US$2.3 billion by 2006 and revenue for online games and digital music will reach US$1.8 billion and US$1.7 billion respectively by the same year.
Less than 6 percent of the consumers polled indicated they would be willing to ante up for content on kids sites, sports sites, video or shopping aid sites. The survey also found that nearly 70 percent of online adults aren't sure why anyone would pay for content online.
Advertising Recession Reaches the End
As reported by the Financial Times, data from a study conducted by UBS Warburg signifies an end to the advertising recession seen in the U.S. advertising market over the last year.
Spending on advertising in the United States dropped 10 percent in 2001, but that path is predicted to move into the positive numbers by the end of this year. The bank's data suggests an increase in advertising spend by U.S. companies of 1 percent--amended from another recent forecast of a 2 percent decline.
UBS predicts a full-scale recovery in the advertising market in 2003, estimating an 11 percent increase in cable TV ads and a 7 percent rise in radio advertising.
Everyone's Mobile in Ireland
Irish telecom regulator ODTR released survey figures last week that reveal a mobile phone-friendly and connected population in Ireland.
Over 90 percent of Irish youth aged 15 to 24 have mobile phones and mobile penetration on the whole reached 79 percent in Ireland by February 2002--an increase of 12 percent since the same time last year.
Internet penetration in Ireland continues to hover around the 34 percent mark, an increase of 1 percent since October 2001, but Internet access at home is above average for males at 50 percent and the 15 to 24 age category at 59 percent.
UK Snail Mail Overtaken by E-mail
Research firm NetValue tracked e-mail usage during December 2001 and January 2002 in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Denmark and Spain and found that U.K. e-mail users out-email those of any other country and prefer email over snail mail.
The data shows U.K. e-mails outnumbered letters by 300 million. British e-mailers sent 170 million more e-mails than the French and 185 million more e-mails than the Germans, per month.
A total of 550 million e-mails, including 100 million web-based e-mails, were sent or received by British households in January alone.