High-income families represent fastest growing segment of web users

Internet users with household incomes of more than $150,000 increased 20% year-over-year to 10.3 million in January, the highest growth among all income groups, Nielsen/NetRatings reports.

High-income users spend the most amount of time online, 76 hours per month, and view more web pages, 2,126 per month, than any other group, Nielsen/NetRatings reports.

Nielsen/NetRatings also reports that men and women living in high income households share similarities in their preferences for travel sites. Men visited more financial sites while women were drawn more to entertainment sites.

The top web sites capturing the largest percentage of high-income men were Fidelity Investments, Sabre Travel Network, CBS MarketWatch, United Airlines and American Airlines. The top web sites drawing the highest percentage of high-income women were AOL Travel, Moviefone, AOL Living, Expedia and AOL Entertainment.

“This represents a solid opportunity for marketers,” said Heather Dougherty, senior retail analyst, Nielsen/NetRatings. “Advertisers would do well to turn to the sites they surf to most efficiently reach this high-income group.”