80 Percent of Adults Use Internet
2007-11-06 06:46am

A new survey has found that four of five U.S. adults now use the Internet in some capacity.

The new poll, by Harris, found that nearly 80 percent of adults go online, which translates into about 178 million people, and spend an average of 11 hours per week surfing the Web.

"We're up to almost 80 of adults who now are online, or are somehow gaining access to the Internet. That's a pretty impressive figure," said Regina Corso, director of the Harris Poll.

Figures have been rising steadily since 2000. Then, Harris found that 57 percent of American adults went online; in 2006 the figure was 77 percent.

Harris began tracking Internet usage in 1995. Then, just nine percent of the population, or roughly 17.5 million people, went online.

The dramatic growth in the online population no doubt accounts for a similar rise in online advertising revenue.

Reuters reported that through the first half of 2007, companies spent a cumulative $10 billion on online advertising, a 27 percent increase from a year earlier.

"Advertisers recognize the continued growth in the online audience and the growing opportunity to target and monetize that audience," Pete Petrusky, a director of the entertainment, media and communications practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers, told Reuters.