Finance Sites the Stickiest Online

More than 44 percent of the active Web population visited a finance Web site in January 2002, according to Nielsen//NetRatings, and the sites proved to be the most sticky on the Web.

Finance sites attracted nearly 51.6 million unique visitors in January. On average, surfers spent more than 21 minutes browsing finance and investment sites, with males comprising 53 percent of the total audience while females attracted 47 percent.

“Financial Web sites outscore every other category in depth of usage, including the popular search engines, portals and online communities,” said Patrick Thomas, senior analyst at NetRatings. “Financial Web sites attract serious and engaged consumers who go beyond casual Internet activity, logging more than 21 minutes of online activity per surfer in January.”

Financial Web sites with transactional capabilities, such as online trading and banking sites, led the way as the stickiest finance and investment destinations, capturing the majority of surfers’ time spent online.

“We are seeing the true adoption of the Internet as a resource consumers turn to in order to move money and monitor their financial holdings,” Thomas said. “As markets have matured, new features and services such as interactive planning tools and extended online bill payment have been integrated into consumers’ lives.”