It’s inevitable. Reuters reported that Beijing-based research firm BDA claims China has outpaced US as the world’s biggest Internet market in terms of its users.
However, these are all based on projections and not on actual count. Based on data from China Internet Network Information Center, Internet users in the Great Firewall of China reached 210 million in 2007. Nielsen/NetRatings, on the other hand, records that US Internet population totaled 216 million in the same period.
Analyst Bin Liu said that if you simply assume the growth rates of both markets will remain the same as in 2007, you can easily conclude China is now ahead of US. Though China will certainly outpace US, this projection fails to factor in market trends shaping this industry in both countries and simply assumes all things to be equal.
Originally posted on March 13, 2008 @ 11:14 am