{"id":97283,"date":"2002-09-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2002-09-15T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2002\/09\/15\/college-students-and-the-web\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T04:18:09","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T09:18:09","slug":"college-students-and-the-web","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/2002\/09\/15\/college-students-and-the-web\/","title":{"rendered":"College Students and the Web"},"content":{"rendered":"

College Students and the Web<\/h3>\n\n

PEW INTERNET & AMERICAN LIFE PROJECT DATA MEMO<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

FROM:<\/strong>\u00a0 Lee Rainie, Director of Pew Internet & American Life Project (202-557-3463, Lrainie@pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet<\/a>) and Max Kalehoff, Senior Manager comScore Networks (212-497-1745, press@comscore.com<\/a>) and Dan Hess, Vice President comScore Networks (312-775-6477)<\/p>\n\n

RE:<\/strong>\u00a0 College students and the Web<\/p>\n\n

DATE:<\/strong>\u00a0 September 2002<\/p>\n\n

\n\n

The Pew Internet & American Life Project asked the well-respected Web tracking firm comScore Networks to provide data about several things:<\/p>\n\n

    \n
  • the kinds of Web sites that are particularly appealing to college students<\/li>\n
  • the kinds of Web sites were especially high proportions of college students shop<\/li>\n
  • the kinds of things college students buy online in relatively high proportions<\/li>\n
  • overall usage of the Web by college students broken down by the time of day<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n

    The accompanying tables and charts were built using the data provided by comScore.<\/p>\n\n

    Please note that site-specific data in these tables, do not refer to the most \u201cpopular\u201d Web sites for college students. Rather, the data show the kinds of sites where unusually large proportions of college students make up the traffic.<\/p>\n\n

    Please attribute these data to \u201ccomScore Media Metrix,\u201d which is a division of comScore Networks.<\/p>\n\n

    The table below shows large sites at which the percentage of college student Web traffic is much higher than would be \u201cnormally\u201d expected, given the overall size of the online college audience compared to other users of the Internet. Somewhat expectedly, the university audience gravitates toward entertainment, society and community.\u00a0 Some highlights:<\/p>\n\n

      \n
    • Livejournal.com, an online personal journal service, had the highest composition of visitors from the university audience (20 percent).<\/li>\n
    • Audiogalaxy.com, where music fans can download the popular Audiogalaxy file-swapping software, had the second highest percentage of visitors from the college audience (18 percent).<\/li>\n
    • Other music-related sites and their percentage of visitors from the university audience included: Billboard.com with 18 percent; Azlyrics.com with 16 percent; and lyrics.com (15 percent).<\/li>\n
    • Duenow.com, an online homework resource, drew 17 percent of its visitors from the university audience.\u00a0 Fastweb.com, a scholarship and college-search service, also had 17 percent of its visitors from the university audience.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
      \"20<\/figure>\n\n

      With lifetimes of buying power and potential brand loyalties ahead of them, college students are of great interest to many marketers \u2013 including those online.\u00a0 The next table shows e-commerce sites where the college audience is much higher than would be \u201cnormally\u201d expected, given the overall size of the online college audience compared to other users of the Internet.<\/p>\n\n

      The university audience is often associated with its craving for music, movies and fashion.\u00a0 Not surprisingly, the top 20 shopping Web sites with the highest percentage of college visitors cater strongly to those three desires.\u00a0 Seven of the top 20 Web sites focus on apparel, four focus on movies and event tickets, and three are music related.\u00a0 Other popular sites focus on posters and artwork, video games and consumer electronics.<\/p>\n\n

      With 15 percent of its total U.S. visitors originating from the university audience, Abercrombie.com ranked highest e-commerce site according to its percentage of college visitors \u2013 as shown in the previous table.\u00a0 College students have always loved to photograph the good times and share those pictures with their friends.\u00a0 That helps explain why total visitors to Picturetrail.com, a photo-sharing Web site, were also from the university audience.\u00a0 Eastbay.com ranked third, with 14 percent of its U.S. visitors from the university audience.<\/p>\n\n

      \"20<\/figure>\n\n

      The next table shows the spending on merchandise and services where college students\u2019 share of the spending was relatively high, compared to other kinds of e-shoppers. comScore Networks reports that in 2001, $53.1 billion worth of merchandise and services were bought online at U.S. sites (excluding auctions and corporate purchases) by buyers from around the world.\u00a0 The vast majority (85%) of these purchases were made by U.S. buyers, of which college students accounted for 4.3%. Thus, this table shows the e-commerce categories where college-student spending was equal to or greater than their overall share of the e-commerce market.<\/p>\n\n

      \"The<\/figure>\n\n

      Back-to-school Shopping<\/b><\/p>\n\n

      Looking at sales in the most recent month, several online merchandise categories had significant spending increases in August 2002 versus August 2001 \u2013 no doubt driven partly by students\u2019 return to college.\u00a0 Event Ticket sales were $161 million dollars, up 63 percent versus one year ago; and Movies and Video sales were $82 million, up 61 percent.\u00a0 This comes as no surprise, given that event-ticket sites are among the most highly trafficked by the college audience, as mentioned above.\u00a0 Office Supplies and Stationery posted $540 million, up 59 percent; and Computer Hardware sales were $946 million, up 35 percent.<\/p>\n\n

      \"Total<\/figure>\n\n

      The material in the chart below demonstrates to a modest degree that some things about college life may never change. Students are still night owls \u2013 at least compared to other people. The chart shows that higher proportions of college students (labeled here as \u201cschool\u201d users) are online between midnight and 4 a.m. than other Internet users.<\/p>\n\n

      \"%<\/figure>\n\n

      The raw data are here:<\/p>\n\n

      \"Raw<\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Data provided by comScore Networks detailing the kinds of Web sites that are particularly appealing to college students, and the kinds of sites where a high proportion of shoppers are college 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