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Consumers Spend $1.8B for Online Content Last Year
"NEW YORK -- Consumer spending for online content in the United States grew to $1.8 billion in 2004, a 14% increase over 2003, according to a new report from the Online Publishers Association. The growth was driven largely by the Entertainment/Lifestyles category. Online Personals/Dating remained the leading paid content category in 2004, with spending at an all-time high of $469.5 million for the year, up 4% over 2003. However, spending on Entertainment/Lifestyles grew a remarkable 90%, from $217.6 million in 2003 to $413.5 million in 2004. Meanwhile, spending on Business/Investment content declined 6% over that same time period.The Sports and Games categories also showed strong annual growth of 38% and 22%, respectively. Categories, amount spent in 2004 and percent growth from 2003 to 2004 are as follows:Growth Personals/Dating, $469.5 million (4.4%) Entertainment/Lifestyles, $413.5 million (90%) Business/Investment, $312.9 million (-6.3%) Research, $115.1 million (6%) Personal Growth, $96.5 million (6.5%) Games, $88.8 million (21.8%) General News, $87.9 million (0.4%) Community-Made Directories, $70.5 million (-18.9%) Greeting Cards, $43.4 million (6.8%) Sports, $52.8 million (38%) Credit Help, $27.1 million (-26%) While burgeoning online music sales were behind the significant gains in the Entertainment/Lifestyles category in 2004, song track sales also led to a significant shift in the overall single purchase versus subscription mix, with single purchases accounting for 15% of online content sales in 2004, compared to 11% in 2003. According to the report, 19 million U.S. consumers paid for online content in the fourth quarter of last year, up 2.6 million over the same period in 2003. With growth in paid content consumers outpacing growth in U.S. Internet users, paid content consumer penetration in the fourth quarter reached its highest point yet -- 11.6% -- while average consumer spending remained flat. Visit the Online Publishers Association: www.online-publishers.org"