Average webpage size tripled in five years

Interesting data about the "size" of the average webpage, from WebsiteOptimization: the size (total of all the elements in a page) has more than tripled since 2003, growing from 93.7Kb to over 312Kb (plus 233%).

During the same five-year period, the number of objects in the average web page (texts, images, ads, audio, video, applets, etc) nearly doubled from 25.7 to 49.9 objects per page on average, with top sites including generally more objects. As broadband becomes more widespread, web designers have created more elaborate designs, and web2.0 technologies such as Ajax certainly contribute to the increase in the number of objects per page. Longer term statistics show that since 1995 the size of the average web page has increased by 22 times, and the number of objects per page has grown by 21.7 times.

Other data:

• The average download time of a chosen set of pages has decreased from 2.8 to 2.33 seconds from Feb. 2006 to Feb. 2008: in other words,  the increase in the average speed of broadband has more than kept pace with the increase in the size and complexity of the average web page.
• A 2006 survey of over 21,500 non-framed web pages found that the average web page contained 474 words, 281 HTML tags, and 41 links, 10 of which pointed outside the domain.
• The use of streaming media on the Web has increased by more than 100% each year. From 2000 to 2005 the total volume of streaming media files stored on the Web grew by more than 600%. More than 87% of all streaming media is abandoned by users in the first 10 seconds, however.
• About 10% of the most popular videos on YouTube account for nearly 80% of the views.

Comments

[Deniz]

Hi, this is a very interesting study. I was wondering if there are studies on the average price of internet usage and how that has changed over time. I am able to compare the price for internet usage in Europe and New Zealand and it appears to me that New Zealand is overpriced for the service provided. If there is a comparison study on that matter I would be interested in reading that. Thanks.