NET ATTRACTS HEALTH-SEEKING SURFERS...

Harris Interactive calculates that 111 million adults have looked for health information on the Internet , compared to 109 million in 2003 and 110 million in 2002.

Measurements from Hitwise indicate that the Health and Medical category has seen more than a 30 percent increase in share of all U.S. visits since January 2003. More specifically, in the Health and Medical - Information category, WebMD captured the largest portion of individuals during March 2004. Interestingly, the top three search terms that led to visits to Health and Medical - Information Web sites were variations of WebMD. "Pregnancy," "medical dictionary," "herpes," and "depression" were also among the most popular search terms that resulted in visits.

March 2004 demographic data from Hitwise revealed that most of the visitors to Health and Medical - Information Web sites were higher earning 35 to 44 year-old females who accessed the Internet from home. The average session duration for the Health and Medical - Information category was 6 minutes 26 seconds.