Home users of Net double to 5 million

THE NUMBER of home users of the Internet doubled to 5 million in the first 10 months of this year. And the 40 per cent of people in Britain - 18.6 million - who have access to the Net from home, work, school or university used it to spend pounds 2bn in the past 12 months, data by Continental Research showed.

The price of growing interest is being paid in terms of family life and "shared experience". While most users are from families whose average annual income is pounds 40,000 - compared with the national average of pounds 18,000 - they said that as a result of such activity as surfing the Web, they spent 11 per cent less time with their families and 33 per cent less time watching television.

Male users outnumber women 2 to 1, maintaining a longstanding imbalance in the sexes' use of the Internet.

Usage among those with an Internet connection is growing fast: 11.1 million - or 60 per cent of those with access - had used the Net at least once a month, said the survey.

Over the past 12 months only 5 per cent of regular users claimed to have made more than 20 purchases and only 1 per cent to have made more than 50. But 56 per cent had bought a book online in the past 12 months, up from 17 per cent in 1998. While the amount spent buying goods online might seem impressive, it is less than 1 per cent of that spent in high streets. Continental described it as "experimental rather than habitual".

Nor is Web advertising space wasted. The survey found 25 per cent of users "read or glanced" at banner ads on the screen; 75 per cent called up a site after seeing its address in print media, compared with 55 per cent for a television advert and 24 per cent for a radio spot.