Akami Launches Net Usage Index for News

Posted on September 30, 2005

Akamai Technologies has launched the Akamai Net Usage Index for News, a daily Web traffic report with information on aggregate total visitors per minute to news portal sites and from where in the world news is being consumed. Akami says the index will track total visitors per minute from a pool of over 100 online news portals. The index is updated every five minutes.

Akami says the Internet is increasingly becoming the "primary daily source of news for a global audience" and that statement appears to be accurate based on the dwindling circulation of print newspapers. A recent study found that only 19% of 18-to-34-year-olds read newspapers.

Akami's index shows when web news usage is above or below normal. The index also tracks significant spikes in news usages like during the London bombing and Hurricane Katrina's flooding of New Orleans. A chart showing when spikes in news usage have occured can also be viewed on Akami's website.