More than a million Irish adults are now using the Internet regularly, according to figures published this evening from the Joint National Internet Research (JNIR) body.
Internet directory service, Yahoo! is the most popular site amongst Irish Web users, with 530,000 readers visiting the site each month, while Internet Service Provider (ISP) eircom.net, at 422,000 is the most popular Irish-based site.
The survey reflects previous findings showing The Irish Timeswebsite, ireland.com, as the most popular Irish newspaper on the Internet. It has than 115,000 Irish readers accessing it regularly, according to the first JNIR survey focussing specifically on the online market in Ireland.
The survey, which does not take into account the site's substantial international readership, measures the total Irish Internet audience and the reach of other Irish-based websites.
Backed by eight media companies including EsatBT, Eircom, RTE and ireland.com, the data is designed to give advertisers their first coherent picture of a world that until now has been dominated by phrases such as "page impressions" and "unique users".
The editor of ireland.com, Ms Deirdre Veldon, described the findings of the JNIR survey as "very encouraging" saying they pointed towards the successful transition into a subscription-based product.
According to Ms Veldon, the findings show an increased acceptance of the need to pay for quality products online and reinforce the association between the site and The Irish Times. "The high percentage of ABC1 readership ireland.comhas is mirrored in the print edition and reflects the quality of the content we offer both online and in print", she said.
Ms Una O'Hare, General Manger of ireland.com, also welcomed the findings and said the "use of traditional metrics to measure the online market will prove very beneficial for advertisers, and will allow agencies and advertisers alike to compare like with like when planning an integrated marketing campaign.
"This will hopefully lead to more advertisers realising the value of online products and allocating more of their budgets to the online market".
The research was conducted by Dublin-based Monitrack Internet Research and Behaviour and Attitudes marketing research and is supported by the Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland (IAPI) and the Association of Advertisers in Ireland (AAI).
"The advertising industry has had considerable difficulty in using the Internet in the past because the numbers and data that were available were not really what we were looking for. We welcome this approach, and feel that it is a large step in the right direction," said Steve Shanahan, of IAPI.
The sample of 9,500 people was asked which of the sites involved in the survey they had visited over the past two weeks. Online surveys were conducted on key sites that signed up for the research.