internet trends in Europe


page director: Brian D. Butler

contributors:   if you are interested in contributing see here

 

 

Table of Contents:


 

Trends in Europe:

 

France also has strong showing, with 21 percent growth, and ranks third after Germany and the UK in total Internet population, with 31.4 million visitors in June and a 61 percent penetration rate of the total population. The Netherlands, which has the highest penetration rate at 82 percent, actually showed a one percent decline to 11.2 million Internet visitors. I guess there is a limit to growth, even on the Internet.

 

Internet Penetration by Country:

Internet adoption was highest in the Netherlands, where 82 percent of the country's total population age 15 and older went online in June. Adoption rates were also high in the Nordic countries, with Denmark (77 percent), Sweden (76 percent), Norway (76 percent) and Finland (69 percent) rounding out the top five.

U.K. Internet users spent the greatest amount of time online, averaging 28.5 hours per user per month, while German Internet users recorded the most page views, averaging 2,906 pages per visitor. Although Russia had the fastest-growing audience in Europe, it ranked near the bottom in terms of penetration and page views.

 

 

 

European Internet Usage Overview

Ranked by Penetration of Total Country Population Age 15+*

Total Unique Visitors (000)** Age 15+

Home & Work locations

June 2008 vs. June 2007

Source: comScore World Metrix

Country

Penetration of Total Country population, Age 15+ Online (%)***

Average Hours per Visitor

Average Pages per Visitor

Europe

39%

23.3

2,665

Netherlands

82%

23.4

2,884

Denmark

77%

16.8

2,406

Sweden

76%

21.7

2,901

Norway

76%

19.9

2,480

Finland

69%

20.0

2,644

Switzerland

66%

19.0

2,176

United Kingdom

65%

28.5

2,836

France

61%

23.3

2,544

Belgium

60%

19.9

2,343

Austria

58%

16.0

2,078

Ireland

49%

14.6

1,536

Germany

49%

23.2

2,906

Spain

47%

25.1

2,218

Portugal

41%

19.8

2,393

Italy

39%

18.8

1,971

Russian Federation

14%

16.0

2,091

 

*Rankings based on the 16 individually reportable European countries in comScore World Metrix. European Internet audience figures are comprehensive and include visitation from countries that are not individually reportable.

**Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

***Geographic population breakdowns supplied by U.S. Census Bureau, 2007.

 

 

 

Internet in Russia:  growing Fast

 

For Web companies looking to expand abroad, Russia needs to be at the top of their list of markets to enter. Russia has the fastest growing Internet population in Europe, followed by France and Spain. In a comparison of 16 European Internet populations by country, comScore reports that Russia's Internet audience for the month of June grew 27 percent year over year, compared to 21 percent growth in France and 15 percent growth in Spain. 

 

If you look at the total size of the Internet populations in each country, however, Russia ranks fifth with 17.5 million monthly Internet visitors. But by Internet penetration, Russia ranks last, with only 14 percent of the total population online. So there is still lots of room for growth there.

 

According to Comscore:  "The total number of European Internet users grew 8 percent during the past year to 241.8 million visitors in June 2008. Russia ranked as the fastest-growing Internet audience in Europe, up 27 percent to 17.5 million visitors, followed by France (up 21 percent to 31.5 million visitors), Spain (up 15 percent to 16.2 million visitors), and Ireland (up 15 percent to 1.6 million visitors).

 

Russia has Europe’s fastest-growing population of internet users The number of users in the country grew 23 percent, from nearly 12 million last September to more than 14.5 million this past September, according to Comscore. More stats on the Russian internet ad business here. Russia has been seeing rapid economic growth largely through developing and selling its generous oil and natural gas resources to other countries. The average Russian is seeing some of this money in their pockets, which no doubt ends up in more people demanding internet access.

 

 

Growth of European internet Audiences

Ranked by Year on Year Growth Rate*

Total Unique Visitors (000)** Age 15+

 Home & Work locations

June 2008 vs. June 2007

Source: comScore World Metrix

Country

Jun-2007

Jun-2008

% Change

Europe

223,922

241,847

8%

Russian Federation

13,791

17,490

27%

France

26,106

31,463

21%

Spain

14,074

16,245

15%

Ireland

1,400

1,606

15%

Switzerland

3,743

4,183

12%

Denmark

3,109

3,437

11%

United Kingdom

31,669

34,860

10%

Belgium

4,807

5,237

9%

Italy

17,905

19,455

9%

Sweden

5,351

5,766

8%

Austria

3,767

4,056

8%

Norway

2,654

2,835

7%

Germany

32,857

34,986

6%

Finland

2,848

3,015

6%

Netherlands

11,287

11,227

-1%

Portugal

N/A

3,618

N/A

*Rankings based on the 16 individually reportable European countries in comScore World Metrix. European Internet audience figures are comprehensive and include visitation from countries that are not individually reportable.

**Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs. 

 

 

 

 

But a word of caution about Russia...

  1. How free of censorship the internet will remain in Russia is a big issue; the Russian government has chosen to crack down on media outlets that criticize it.
  2. Potential political conflict with West over crisis in Georgia highlighed the influence that politics can and sometimes does have on business.  When dealing with Russia, you should first be aware of the political risk (is it currently high? low?  find out!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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