holds data on more than 8.4m users in the UK, collected via ISPs, who use its clients' websites. The company will now offer demographic profiles on users including age, gender and geographic location on these users.
The information is accumulated on an opt-in basis from users who have agreed to have their internet usage anonymously monitored in return for free software and tools.
The raw sample of demographic data is weighted to list data supplied by the Office of National Statistics across each individual demographic variable.
Simon Chamberlain, general manager of Hitwise, said: "This addition to our existing competitive intelligence service means that our current blue chip, corporate and SME clients, who use Hitwise to stay ahead of the competition, will be able to see which types of people are using their websites or leading websites within their industry. The ability to search based on these demographics makes it a powerful planning tool to identify potential business opportunities."
Hitwise is also set to team up with Experian to provide geo-demographic data through the marketing services company's Mosaic analysis system.
Hitwise currently profiles more than 3,500 websites and aims to raise this to 30,000 by the end of 2003. It aims to have built a panel of 70,000 individual internet users by July and 140,000 users by the end of the year.
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