A-level results time boosts student and finance websites

by Kunal Dutta, Media Week 15-Aug-08, 11:25

LONDON - Student and financial-related websites have the greatest affinity among 18 to 22-year-olds, according to Nielsen Online research for the month of June.

The results are part of a study by Nielsen which looks at the most popular youth websites in different age categories. Student Loans Company, UCAS and Student Finance Direct all attracted a 40% share of unique audience, while video-related content sites such as Sidereel, TV-Links and Alluc.org also featured heavily.

In the 12 to 17-year-old categories, mobile social networking and online gaming sites as Frengo (26% of unique audience) and RuneScape (25%) and Bebo (19%) proved most popular.

Alex Burmaster, internet analyst, Nielsen Online said: "As children hit their teenage years, general entertainment sites tend to make way for games-focused sites that offer a massive range of easily accessible games, ensuring that teenage gaming activity extends far beyond the PS3, Wii and Xbox consoles.

Among under-12s, fashion and entertainment sites including Stardoll (32%) and Club Penguin (29%) were the most popular. BBC's youth-related sites such as CBBC and CBeebies also featured prominently.

Burmaster added: "The internet is very much an entertainment resource for young children, mainly due to how well TV broadcasters such as Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, the BBC and Disney, have adapted their traditional offering to the web."