NetValue: Napster Decision Affects 1.1 million German Internet Users

[Berlin, GERMANY]The likely end of the Napster music exchange platform was a
hard-hitting decision for 1.1 million Internet users in Germany. According
to an analysis by NetValue published yesterday, that’s nearly 8.9 percent of
all Germans who were online in December and who exchanged music using the
Napster.exe program.

The napster.com web site was visited by almost 1.07
million users in December; that’s almost four times as many as
visited in June 2000. Napster is on its way to being a service for the whole
spectrum of Internet users.

In December 2000, the exchange service was used
by 1,068,540 individual visitors, which corresponds to a range
of 8.50 percent. In November there were 838,880 individual visitors at a
range of 7.40 percent. At the start of the year 2000, the number of visitors
was only 13,830 at a range of under one percent.

Male Internet surfers have been particularly hard hit by the decision,
because according to NetValue, three-fourths of all visitors to the Napster
site are men. The “typical” Napster fan is a male between the
ages of 15 and 34. At 75.9 percent, this age group makes up the majority of
visitors. But from October to December, online users between the ages of 35
and 49 began to catch up.

In October, this age group made up only 23.4
percent of all visitors, a number which rose to 30 percent by December. The
Napster user numbers correspond exactly to the developmental dynamic that is
often seen with new Internet content.

At the start, the 15 to 24-year-olds show the most interest in a new offer, at
44.0 percent. Then the interest spreads to the next age group, the 25 to
34-year-olds, which make up 31.9 percent of all Napster
users.

In the third phase, the 35 to 49-year-olds, who make up the
proportionally largest group of Internet users, begin to take interest,
making up 19.3 percent out of a 30.6 percent share of all users. Those
under 14 and over 65 rarely visit the music exchange platform and make up
only 1.2 and 2.1 percent.

“The ability to download free music from the Internet is one of the most
interesting developments of the past year,” says Milan Dolinar, the managing
director of NetValue, in regard to these figures. “The typical
Napster customer is no longer just a very young, music-loving Internet
freak. The euphoria spread very quickly to the general public. The
composition of Napster visitors – at least amongst the men – has come
more and more to resemble that of typical CD-buyers.”