Daily online traffic on the Web site of China’s largest broadcaster surpassed that of the top U.S. broadcaster and online channel during the Olympics, according to WebTrends Analytics.

Driven by national pride and massive growth in Internet adoption in China, CCTV.com, the state run broadcaster attracted more than 100 million unique visitors during the 2008 Olympic Games. The site had an average of more than 6 million unique visitors per day.

NBC averaged 4.3 million unique users a day on its Olympics Web site. Yahoo also had online coverage of the games averaging 4.7 million users pr day.

“The Beijing Olympics marked the coming of age for the Internet in China,” said Alex Yoder, CEO of WebTrends, a  provider of web analytics and online marketing solutions.

“CCTV.com attracted more than 100 million online visitors for the Olympic Games by providing the right content at the right time for a large and ever-growing online audience.”

CCTV.com had an increase of more than 2.5 minutes in the average time each visitor remained on the site, reaching 11.5 minutes during the games.

The opening ceremonies on August 8 generated the most traffic on a single day with 8.5 million visits.

The busiest hour of online traffic was from 11 a.m. to noon August 18. Close to 900,000 visitors went online to watch Chinese athlete Liu Xiang race.

Global online video revenue is on track to surpass $4.5 billion by 2012, up from $1.2 billion in 2008 according to research firm In-Stat.

Purchased/rented videos will offer the most growth for online video short term, primarily due to an increase in subscription services such as Netflix, which charges a flat monthly fee to deliver DVDs and online content that can be viewed on TV sets. Ad supported professional video from major TV networks will become a solid revenue contributor by 2012.

“What is now seen as a predominantly younger pastime will spread to encompass a wider group of people, in part due to the aging of current online video viewers, but also as a result of word of mouth, spread of services, growth of in-home networks, and new network-connected consumer electronic devices,” says Gerry Kaufhold, In-Stat analyst.

“The survey data in a recent In-Stat report indicates that over half of consumers actually still prefer packaged goods, which bodes well for Blu-ray discs. Surprisingly, younger people who regularly watch online were the group that expressed the highest interest in owning a package goods bundle that includes artwork and extra content.”

By 2012, 39 percent of adults in the U.S. will have purchased or rented online video. Fifty-four percent of U.S. consumers still prefer physical discs when buying movies or TV shows.

By 2012, In-Stat predicts that 90 percent of U.S. households will have access to broadband, with 94 percent of these individuals viewing online video

Google sites remained in the top spot for online properties in July, reaching 141.6 million Americans during the month, while Yahoo sites trailed with 140.3 million and Microsoft sites took the third position with 120.2 million visitors according to comScore Media Metrix.

A number of travel categories saw gains in July as Americans went on summer vacations. The travel category increased 10 percent to 12.7 million visitors, making it the top-gaining category for the month. The travel information category grew 7 percent to 47.6 million visitors.

Despite a sluggish retail economy in the U.S., several retail categories saw traffic increases in July, due to consumers shopping online instead of using expensive gas to drive to stores. Retail consumer good sites increased 8 percent to 22.5 million visitors.

With the release of a number of summer blockbusters, retail ticket sites grew 5 percent to more than 44 million visitors as movie fans purchased tickets online to avoid long lines and sell outs at theaters.

“The summer months tend to draw Americans to more leisure pursuits and that was certainly the case in July,” said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix.

“Ground travel and cruise sites gained once again, as many Americans sought more budget-friendly ways to enjoy their summer vacations amid economic and fuel price concerns. Summer blockbusters and big celebrity news also provided a boost to the entertainment categories.”

The percentage of users who use search engines has increased from about one-third of all users in 2002, to just under half (49%) in 2008, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Search has become more popular than other online activities, such as checking news, weather or other information on a typical day.

For the majority of Internet users an average day includes using email (60% of Internet users), general searches (49%) and news reading (39%).

Those using search engines on an average day are more likely to be socially upscale, with at least some college education and incomes over $50,000 per year. They are more likely to be Internet users with at least six years of online experience and to have a fast Internet connection in their homes. Younger Internet users are more likely than older users to search on a typical day. Men are more likely than women to search on an average day.

Sixty-six percent of searchers are college graduates, 49 percent have some college and 32 percent are high school graduates or less.

Internet users living in higher-income households are more likely to use search on a typical day. Sixty-two percent earn more than $75,000 per year, 56 percent fall in the $50,000 to $74,999 range, 34 percent are in the $30,000 to $49,999 category and 36 percent are in the under $30,000 range.

Those who use broadband connection at home are significantly more likely than those who use dial-up to have ever tried using search engines. Fifty-eight percent of broadband users have tried a search engine and 26 percent of dial-up users have done the same.

When it comes to age, younger Internet users are more likely to search on an average day. Fifty-five percent of 18 to 29 year olds search on a typical day, 54 percent of 30 to 49 year olds, 40 percent of 50 to 64 year olds and 27 percent of 65 year olds and over.

“One likely reason is that users can now expect to find a high-performing, site-specific
search engine on just about every content-rich website that is worth its salt,” according to the Pew report.

“With a growing mass of web content from blogs, news sites, image and video archives, personal websites, and more, internet users have an option to turn not only to the major search engines, but also to search engines on individual sites, as vehicles to reach the
information they are looking for.”

Close to half (46%) of U.S. email users say they are addicted to email according to a survey from AOL.

More than half (51%) check their email four or more times a day and one in five said they check their email more than 10 times a day. Over a quarter (27%) are overwhelmed by their email and have considered deleting all their email messages and starting over. Twenty percent of users said they have more than 300 emails in their inboxes.

To start over, 24 percent have singed up for new email accounts and 69 percent said they have multiple email accounts, up from 52 percent in 2007.

“We really do live in a 24-7 society and it’s not uncommon to be online and checking email at all hours of the day,” said Regina Lewis, AOL Online Consumer Advisor. “Sometimes we need to take a step back and refresh with an empty inbox or even a new inbox altogether to clear our mind and focus on those emails and relationships that are most important to us.”

When queried about email etiquette, 24 percent said they don’t use a greeting to start an email message and 23 percent do use some form of greeting in the first email they write to a co-worker or friend.

“If you converse regularly - bantering back and forth throughout the course of your workday - it’s okay to leave out a salutation,” said Cherie Kerr, author of The Bliss or “Diss” Connection?: Email Etiquette for the Business Professional, “Otherwise, people can feel as though you didn’t care enough to write out their name. To really get someone’s attention, the best thing you can do is call them by name.”

Most (88%) email users said they pay attention to spelling and punctuation when writing emails, and 68 percent said email with spelling and punctuation errors annoyed them. They majority (74%) make exceptions to errors when emails are sent from a mobile device like a BalckBerry or iPhone.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about your image,” added Kerr. “Typos and poor grammar are the equivalent of walking into a room looking unshowered and disheveled. Good writing in an email shows you have both professionalism and class.”