Comscore Releases Overview of European Internet Usage for December 2011
LONDON, UK, 16 February 2012 - Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an overview of internet usage in Europe, showing 381.5 million unique visitors went online in December 2011 for an average of 27.5 hours per person. This release highlights internet usage in 49 European markets aggregated into the European region and provides individual reporting on 18 markets. Amongst its findings, the study also shows that online banking reached 66.3 percent of the internet audience in the Netherlands, making it the top market in Europe for sites such as ING Group.
2 out of 3 Internet Users Accessed Online Banking Sites in the Netherlands Online banking sites reached 66.3 percent of the total internet audience in the Netherlands, the highest penetration of all markets in Europe. In fact, the Netherlands was not only the top market in Europe but also amongst all global markets. France ranked second with 59.9 percent of the internet audience accessing sites such as Crédit Agricole and Société Générale. Swedish internet users were also avid online bankers (55.9 percent reach), placing the country third by online banking penetration in Europe.
Top 5 European Markets* for Online Banking Sites Ranked by Percent Reach December 2011 Total European Audience, Age 15+, Home and Work Locations Source: Comscore MMX
Banking
Total Unique Visitors (000)
% Reach
Netherlands
7,954
66.3%
France
25,782
59.9%
Sweden
3,489
55.9%
United Kingdom
19,943
53.2%
Finland
1,804
53.1%
*Amongst the 18 European markets that we report on individually
147.5 million European internet users visited online banking sites in December, representing 38.7 percent of the total internet audience. In addition to the Netherlands having the highest online banking penetration, Dutch bank ING Group ranked as the leading online banking property in Europe, attracting 11.2 million unique visitors during the month. Ranking as a close second was the online property for French bank Crédit Agricole with 10.7 million unique visitors. Lloyds Banking Group rounded up the top three with 9.4 million Europeans visitors during the month.
Top 5 Online Banking Sites in Europe by Total Unique Visitors (000) December 2011 Total European Audience, Age 15+, Home and Work Locations Source: Comscore MMX
Total Internet Audience: Age 15+
381,546
Business/Finance - Banking
147,499
ING Group
11,233
Credit Agricole
10,694
Lloyds Banking Group plc
9,351
Societe Generale
8,600
Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe
8,598
Fastest Growing Properties in Europe The growth of Russian social network Fotostrana.ru which belongs to the Hamborner Holdings property, made it the fastest growing property (up 52 percent) from November to December, followed by software company Opera Software (up 36 percent). In terms of the most popular sites in Europe, Google Sites continued to rank first with 350.2 million unique visitors. Facebook, which ranked third in audience size with 258.1 million visitors, had the highest overall engagement at 93.3 billion minutes spent on the site in total. Interestingly, Vkontakte had the highest average user engagement at 7.9 hours per visitor during the month.
Top 15 Fastest Growing Properties* in Europe by Total Unique Visitors (000) November 2011 vs December 2011 Total Europe Audience, Age 15+, Home and Work Locations Source: Comscore MMX
Nov-2011
Dec-2011
% Change
379,402
1%
Hamborner Holdings
10,334
15,728
52%
Opera Software
17,788
24,153
36%
Samsung Group
13,153
16,090
22%
Babylon.com
19,061
23,112
21%
Spil Games
22,470
26,881
20%
Metro Group
16,597
19,366
17%
Gazprom Media
17,395
19,554
12%
Nokta.com Medya
19,056
21,010
10%
SUP
22,302
24,421
9%
Rambler Media
23,596
25,836
Turner Digital
16,846
18,421
Break Media
20,782
22,677
Terra - Telefonica
23,642
25,701
LeGuide.com Sites
15,252
16,471
8%
Amazon Sites
109,496
117,795
* Amongst the top 100 online properties
European Internet Usage by Country Below is a snapshot of European internet usage in the 18 reportable markets for which Comscore provides individual reporting. The Russian internet audience continued to be the largest audience by users in Europe with nearly 53.3 million users accessing the internet in December 2011. The UK continued to show the highest engagement, with users spending an average of 35.6 hours online during the month. Turkey overtook the Netherlands to rank second for engagement with users spending an average of 33.7 hours online during the month.
Overview of European Internet Usage by Country Ranked by Total Unique Visitors (000) December 2011 Total Audience, Age 15+, Home and Work Locations Source: Comscore MMX
Total Internet
Average Hours per Visitor
Average Pages per Visitor
Worldwide
1,444,092
24.4
2,354
Europe
27.5
2,935
Russian Federation
53,345
25.1
2,792
Germany
51,008
25.2
2,885
43,009
2,786
37,504
35.6
3,297
Italy
24,468
17.7
1,900
Turkey
23,369
33.7
3,974
Spain
21,600
26.9
2,321
Poland
18,194
27.8
3,156
11,997
32.2
3,167
6,242
2,589
Belgium
6,088
20.5
2,226
Switzerland
4,817
19.0
1,967
Austria
4,756
15.0
1,628
Portugal
4,310
21.0
2,099
Denmark
3,687
22.8
2,360
3,394
26.4
2,611
Norway
3,279
27.3
2,492
Ireland
2,361
19.7
1,910
About Comscore Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.
Contact:Sarah RadwanickDirector, Regional Product MarketingComscore, Inc. +44 (0) 20 7099 1784worldpress@comscore.com