Subscribe162 Million Internet Users in China
According to the latest report by China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC), at the end of June 2007, Chinese Internet users has reached 162 million, which means an increase of 25 million in last six months, the biggest half-yearly increase ever. But it may because CNNIC report change the definition of Internet users, in all previous reports, Internet user means Chinese citizen aged 6 and above who averagely use the Internet at least one hour per week. However, in its latest report, Internet users are Chinese citizens aged 6 and above who use the Internet in last half year.
The following are my quick thoughts on the latest report:
- Mobile Internet will become more and more important, over 44 million users use mobile handsets to access Internet, an increase of 27 million (159%) in last six months.
- Over half of all Internet users(51.2%) are under age 25. The Internet penetration rate for users aged between 18 to 24 is 43.4%. Internet has become their lifestyle, that’s also part of the reasons that QQ and 51.com are so popular in China.
- The percentage of Internet users with high school education or below increased from 48.2% in half year ago to 56.1%. The percentage of users with an income below 1000 yuan increased from 47.6% to 51.7%. You need to understand these group of young users to become leading player in China’s Internet market.
- Over 37% users, increased from 32.3%, access Internet in Internet cafe. It is said that 51.com is very popular among Internet Cafe users
- IM is more important in China than email for communication. More netizens use IM than email (69.8% vs. 55.4%), while over 90% Internet users use email in US. IM usage rate is even higher (74.6%) among users under age 25, while the email usage rate is only 46.6% among them.
- Online entertainment demand is the most important demand among Chinese yougsters(under age 25), with 91.4% of them used online music, 79.6%% used online movies, and 67.1% played online games.
Well, from these data, you may find the characteristics of Chinese Internet is quite different from those of US, you should study the report in detail to understand Chinese Internet users better. The full report in PDF file can be downloaded here(in Chinese).
Update: The English version report (pdf file) is online already.
Related:
PEW’s report: China’s Online Population Explosion
Kaiser’s thought on PEW’s report
14 Responses to “162 Million Internet Users in China”
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China Web Research
You have a good point about the definition of internet users. I missed that.
Growth for each half year has been roughly 9 to 11 percent over the last years. Now it’s more than 18%.
Taking the old definition the total number would have come to about 151 million or so.
I don’t know what the international standard is in this case.
I’m sure though China will overtake the US very soon:)
CNNIC said the new definition is the international standard, but I’m not sure.
CNNIC also said the gap between two different definition is just less than 3%.
I tried to find some info about international standards for the definition of an internet user.
It seems there are differences. I found some info from the internet world stats and I quote:
“The ITU (International Telecommunication Union) subscribes to the definition of an Internet user as someone aged 2 years old and above, who went online in the past 30 days. The US Department of Commerce, in contrast, defines Internet users as those 3 years or older who ‘currently use’ the Internet. The CNNIC defines the Internet user as a Chinese citizen, aged 6 or above, who uses the Internet at least one hour per week. Other market researchers have there own definitions.”
source: http://www.internetworldstats.com/surfing.htm
The last part has now changed as you pointed out to “Internet users are Chinese citizens aged 6 and above who use the Internet in the last half year.”
I checked the UK and from one of the reports of the governmental statistics bureau the definition seems to be users in the last 3 months.
see http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=5672
With every country doing their own thing in this regards it’s rather hard to compare. I do think that the CNNIC has gone a bit overboard by widening the definition so much.
Since CNNIC compared China’s data with those of America from PEW’s report, I try to find something from PEW’s report:
For 1995, internet users include those who ever use a
home, work or school computer and modem to connect to computer bulletin boards, information services such as
CompuServe or Prodigy, or computers at other locations. For 1996 to 1998, internet users include those who ever use a home, work or school computer and modem to connect with computers over the internet, the World Wide Web, or with information services such as America Online or Prodigy. For 2000 to 2004, internet users include persons who ever go online to access the Internet or World Wide Web or to send and receive email. For 2005, internet users include those who
at least occasionally use the internet or send and receive email.
[...] Find below the highlights of this report (directly from China Web 2.0 Review ) [...]
Excellent summary of information, thanks.
Is there any specific reason, like a new product or service, for the 156% growth in mobile internet use in the last 6 months or is it just natural growth?
Redkemp, besides natural growth, I personally think it is mainly because the change of definition of Internet users.
They mention indeed PEW several times. Do you know if they specifically mentioned they used the same definition as PEW did for the US regarding internet users?
I’m still intrigued with this sudden change:) especially because it will make it also very hard now to compare the totals of internet users from the years before.
[...] Das berichtet das (ohnehin empfehlenswerte Blog) “China web 2.0 Review”. Mit einen Plus von 25 Millionen Benutzern war es der stärkste Zuwachs an Usern innerhalb von 6 Monaten (das könnte allerdings auch daran liegen, dass das CNNIC die Zählmethode geändert hat) . Noch ein paar andere, schwindelerregende Zahlen finden sich im Artikel.) [...]
[...] The CWRblog did have an explanation for it, by citing from the report that the CNNIC has changed their definition of an Internet user. In all previous reports Internet users were defined as “Chinese citizens aged 6 and above who averagely use the Internet at least one hour per week”. [...]
[...] “Although this growth(broadband user) seems massive only 10% of China is on broadband, I believe the stat in United States is around 70-80% (from memory)“: In fact, according to latest CNNIC report, there are 122 million Internet users in China are using broadband, that is 75% of 162 million Internet users in China as of the end of June. [...]
[...] JPMorgan’s Internet analyst Imran Khan and his team released a report on Internet sector which has a chapter on China’s Internet industry and also reviews Chinese Internet stocks.(tip by Techcrunch) The chapter on China are mainly based on the data from CNNIC’s latest report on China’s Internet development, it discussed the trends of online advertising, search and online gaming market. [...]
[...] CNNIC just released its latest semi-year report on development of Internet in China. According to the report, by the end of 2007, the number of Chinese Internet users has reached 210 million, an increase of 48 million in last six months, or 73 million in last year. Among these 73 million new Internet users, 29.17 million, or about 40%, come from rural area. About 50.4 million users use mobile handsets to access Internet, just adding 6 million new mobile Internet users in last six month. [...]
[...] China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) just released its latest semi-year report on development of Internet in China. According to the report, by the end of 2007, the number of Chinese Internet users has reached 210 million, an increase of 48 million in last six months, or 73 million in last year. Among these 73 million new Internet users, 29.17 million, or about 40%, come from rural area. About 50.4 million users use mobile handsets to access Internet, just adding 6 million new mobile Internet users in last six months. [...]