LONDON July 31, 1997 Yahoo! Europe announced the results of the first pan European Audience Survey by a major Internet media company. The research, conducted by Continental Research reveals a detailed profile of upscale adults with an average household income equivalent to $56,300. Separately, new independent research by Fittkau & Maass reveals Yahoo! Germany to be the most widely used navigational tool in Germany well ahead of its nearest competitor. In France, market research firm Sofres records Yahoo! France as the most widely used World Wide Web site in France, well ahead of all French and international services. In Europe Yahoo! offers comprehensive, local guides to Web sites through www.yahoo.co.uk, www.yahoo.fr and www.yahoo.de.

The first Yahoo! European Audience Survey reveals an upscale demographic profile. The average household income for a Yahoo! user is 44 000 in the UK (almost three times the national average). In France the average household income for a Yahoo! user is FF 274 000 ( FF 150 000 is the national average) and in Germany the average household income for a Yahoo! user is DM 96,807 ( 36.3% higher than the national average). The majority of users are male, mostly in the 25-44 age group, with high ownership of homes, cars, stocks and financial products. They travel frequently and regularly dine out. Shopping online has taken off with this group who are increasing their usage of the Internet and reducing their time watching TV. The research, conducted by Continental Research polled 12,394 Yahoo! users online in France, Germany, UK, during May 1997.

A separate announcement from Fittkau & Maass, an independent German research company focusing on commercial WWW applications, revealed yahoo.de (Yahoo! Germany) to be the most widely used navigational guide in Germany reaching 71% of users, significantly ahead of second placed lycos.de at 43.5%. Yahoo! Germany was also the navigational guide best liked by users topping the survey with 39%, ahead of the the next named brand which scored 12%. The "WWW- Benutzer - Analyse W3B" (WWW_User - Survey W3B) is one of the largest German language user surveys which takes place every six months and is now one of the most accepted and reliable sources of online usage data for the German market.

Results shortly to be announced by the French market research firm Sofres show that www.yahoo.fr is no. 1 for both household and individual reach. The Sofres research records www.yahoo.fr as the most widely used WWW site in France with a household reach of 38%, well ahead of all French and international services.

"This confirmation of preference coupled with our pan European Survey confirms Yahoo! Europe s highly desirable audience demographics and supports its ability to attract major new advertisers including Coca Cola, BSkyB, British Airways, DHL, Porsche, Volvo, Reed, Dell and Beck's Beer" said Heather Killen, managing director of European Operations at Yahoo!. "The European Yahoo! user is an affluent, home-owning professional with a family life who uses the Internet to improve his or her busy lifestyle."

The first Yahoo! European Audience Survey reveals an upscale demographic profile:

• 80% of UK respondents are male with 59% falling in the 25-44 age range.
• 91% of German respondents are male with 63% falling in the 25-44 age range.
• 81% of French respondents are male with 58% in the 25-44 age range.

The average household income for a Yahoo! user is 44,000 (pounds sterling) in the UK (almost 3 times the national average In Germany the average household income for a Yahoo! user is DM 96,807 (36.3% higher than the national average). In France the average household income for a Yahoo! user is FF 274,000 (FF150,000 is the national average).

The survey also reveals a powerful consumer profile of European Yahoo! users:

• Mobile phones are widely owned, with 49% of Yahoo! users in the sample owning one in the UK, and 37% of users in the sample owning one in France and Germany.
• Yahoo! users are regular travellers with 40% (UK), 36% (France) and 30% (Germany) flying more than twice a year.
• The likely value of their next car purchase is an average of 10,588 (UK), DM 27,931 (Germany) and FF 79,310 (France).
• Financially adroit, Yahoo! users have a broad based financial portfolio with 45% (UK), 69% (Germany) and 53% (France) contributing to a regular savings scheme, while stocks and shares are owned by 42% (UK), 38% (Germany) and 24% (France).

The Internet is very much part of their lives:

• 73% (UK), 71% (France) and 70% (Germany) log on once a day.

There is a slightly different work/home use mix in each country. In the UK, users are spending slightly more time accessing the internet for leisure activities rather than business, an average of 4.2 hours leisure versus 3.9 hours for business. In France the balance is 3.7 hours work to 3.4 hours leisure and Germany 3.7 hours work to 4.8 hours leisure.

Shopping online is beginning to take off in Europe. In the past six months 23% of the French Yahoo! sample, 39% of the German Yahoo! sample and 38% of the UK Yahoo! sample have made a purchase online. Yahoo users are confident of the security aspects of shopping online with 57% (UK), 56%(Germany) and 64% (France) believing Internet shopping is as/or more secure than ordering by telephone and 56% (Germany), 39% (France) and 57% (UK) indicating that they would engage in the same or more online shopping in the next twelve months.

Spending more time on the Internet has led to a radical shift in leisure pursuits amongst this group. More than half of Yahoo! users in Europe now favor sitting down in front of the PC to sitting down in front of the TV, with 56% of respondents in the UK, 60% of respondents in Germany, and 61% of respondents in France devoting less time to watching TV. The popularity of e-mail amongst this group will also explain why 52% of UK users, 37% of French users, and 55% of German users are now spending less time sending letter or memos.

About Yahoo! Europe

Yahoo! UK & Ireland, Yahoo! France and Yahoo! Germany are the first properties to be launched by Yahoo! in Europe. Yahoo! Europe is headquartered in London, and has offices in Paris and Munich. Yahoo! can be found on the web at www.yahoo.co.uk, www.yahoo.fr and www.yahoo.de.

About Yahoo!

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) is an Internet media company that offers a network of globally-branded properties, specialty programming, and aggregated content distributed primarily on the Web, serving business professionals and consumers. As the first online navigational guide to the Web, www.yahoo.com is the single largest guide in terms of traffic, advertising, and household reach, and is one of the most recognized brands associated with the Internet. Yahoo! Inc. continues to develop a family of community services, including Yahoo! Chat, Classifieds, and Yellow Pages, along with targeted Internet guides for geographic audiences (Yahoo! Japan, UK & Ireland, France, Germany, Canada, San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Boston, Austin, Seattle, Dallas/Fort Worth, Atlanta, Minneapolis/St. Paul); shared-interest audiences (Yahoo! Internet Life magazine and website, Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Scoreboard and unfURLed, MTV/Yahoo! s online music guide); and demographic audiences (Yahooligans!, a Web guide for kids; and Beatrice s Web Guide for women). Yahoo! Inc. is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., and can be found on the Web at www.yahoo.com.

Notes to Editors:

The survey, conducted by Continental Research, was completed in two stages. The recruitment stage of the survey was conducted via multiple links on the Yahoo! home pages in Germany, UK and France and consisted of a short series of questions (translated into local languages and with appropriate references to local media) regarding Internet usage and the profile of the respondent. At the end of the survey, which was posted for 2 weeks, respondents were asked to enter their e-mail address, and were entered into a competition to win one of five Psion organisers.

In stage two, respondents were e-mailed a short message directing them to the second, more extensive and detailed questionnaire. They were required to enter their e-mail address as a password which eliminated the possibility of completing the survey more than once. Posted in May 1997, the survey took approximately 15 minutes to complete and respondents were always given the opportunity to withdraw.

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