Study: Women Are Wired

Women are spending the same amount of time online as men and will surpass them by the end of the year, according to a new study by Media Metrix and AdRelevance. The report also found that many top e-retailers have an audience made up largely of women. "The fun and convenience of going online is becoming increasingly important to a wide range of American women," says Charles Buchwalter, vice president of media research for AdRelevance. "When you consider how important these demographics are to acdvertisers, the Internet may not turn out to be 'the great equalizer' after all. On the contrary, women seem well on their way to outnumbering men in a medium that until recently was almost exclusively their own."

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Among specific findings:

• Women represent 48% of all Internet users, and are expected to surpass men by year's end.
• The types of Web sites with the highest composition of women included toy retailers, women's portals, greeting card sites, retail savings sites and health sites.

The top five sites for women in November 1999 were:

• toysrus.com
• etoys.com
• village sites
• women.com
• coolsavings.com