comScore Releases First Comprehensive Review of Pan-European Online Activity

comScore Releases First Comprehensive Review of Pan-European Online Activity

- Google most popular property in 13 of 16 countries tracked by comScore

- U.K. and Swedish Web users spend more time online than U.S. counterparts

- U.K. most active Internet users in Europe

comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, today released the first comprehensive review of European Internet activity. The comScore World Metrix study reveals that on an average day in April 2007, there were 122 million Europeans age 15 or older online, versus 114 million in the U.S. The average European accessed the Internet from either a home or a work computer an average of 16.5 days in the month and spent a total of 24 hours viewing 2,662 Web pages.

The comScore study compares activity across the 16 countries where comScore tracks Internet usage with panel-based measurement and highlights the differences in Internet development by country. This harmonized view of European online visitation reveals the following:

– The Netherlands and Scandinavian countries have the highest percentage
of their populations using the Internet, ranging from 68 percent to 83
percent.
– Germany has the largest online population: 32.6 million people age 15
and older.
– The U.K. has the most active online population, with the highest
average number of daily visitors (21.8 million), the highest usage days
per month (21 per user), and the highest average time spent per month
per user (34.4 hours).
– European users average 16.5 usage days per month. Countries that have
usage days below the European average are Russia (11.4 average usage
days), Austria (12.0), Italy (12.9), Ireland (13.0), Portugal (13.4),
Norway (14.7), Denmark (14.7), Switzerland (15.1), Belgium (15.5) and
Finland (16.4).
– The average Swedish user views 4,019 pages per month and views more
pages than any other country – 51 percent above the European average of
2,662 pages per month.

“This marks the first time we have released this detailed of a portrait of Internet usage across the 16 countries, making these comparisons truly revealing,” commented Bob Ivins, managing director of comScore Europe. “Such comparisons are only possible due to the consistency of our panel-based methodology country-to-country.”

The study also revealed that Google is the most popular property in 13 of the 1p6 countries, followed by Microsoft in most countries. Yahoo! remains the 3rd most popular property across Europe, despite making the top 3 list in only three countries – Ireland, Italy and Spain.

Pan-European and US Breakdown of Online Audiences, age 15+(i)
April 2007
Home and Work Locations
Source: comScore World Metrix

                Internet     Monthly  Average  Average   Average   Average
              Penetration(ii) Unique    Daily    Usage   Monthly   Monthly
                               Users    Users     Days     Hours     Pages
                               (000)    (000)      per       per       per
                                                  User      User      User
                                                   per
                                                 Month

    Europe         40%       221,463   121,774     16.5     24.1     2,662
    Austria        53%         3,721     1,485       12     16.3     1,906
    Belgium        54%         4,728     2,447     15.5     20.6     2,399
    Denmark        68%         3,045     1,493     14.7       22     3,058
    Finland        65%         2,818     1,544     16.4     29.7     3,749
    France         51%        25,388    14,531     17.2     26.1     2,768
    Germany        46%        32,578    18,359     16.9     22.6     2,807
    Ireland        42%         1,365       591       13     18.9     1,871
    Italy          36%        18,086     7,783     12.9     17.7     1,862
    Netherlands    83%        11,292     7,350     19.5       27     3,131
    Norway         70%         2,620     1,288     14.7     27.4     3,080
    Portugal       44%         3,882     1,731     13.4     23.3     2,454
    Russia         11%        13,255     5,048     11.4     13.3     1,695
    Spain          39%        13,628     8,828     19.4     30.6     2,675
    Sweden         70%         5,259     2,895     16.5     31.7     4,019
    Switzerland    58%         3,666     1,846     15.1     22.7     2,676
    U.K.           62%        31,150    21,767       21     34.4     3,440
    U.S.           66%       156,697   114,472     21.9     31.4     2,826

Top 3 Properties
Based on
Monthly Unique Visitors

                                     1           2                      3
    Europe                         Google    Microsoft                Yahoo!
    Austria                        Google    Microsoft                  eBay
    Belgium                        Google    Microsoft        Belgacom Group
    Denmark                        Google    Microsoft   Lycos Europe  Sites
    Finland                        Google    Microsoft            SanomaWSOY
    France                         Google    Microsoft        France Telecom
    Germany                        Google    Microsoft                  eBay
    Ireland                        Google    Microsoft                Yahoo!
    Italy                          Google    Microsoft                Yahoo!
    Netherlands                    Google    Microsoft            SanomaWSOY
    Norway                      Microsoft       Google    Aftonbladet Hierta
    Portugal                       Google    Microsoft      Portugal Telecom
    Russia                      YANDEX.RU      MAIL.RU         Rambler Media
    Spain                          Google    Microsoft                Yahoo!
    Sweden                      Microsoft       Google    Aftonbladet Hierta
    Switzerland                    Google    Microsoft              Swisscom
    U.K.                           Google    Microsoft                  eBay
    U.S.                           Yahoo!   Time Warner               Google
                                              Network

(i) Excludes Traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or
access from mobile phones or PDAs.

(ii) Estimated Users age 15+ active within 30 days from Home or Work
computer as a percentage of total country population age 15+.

About comScore

comScore, Inc. is a global leader in measuring the digital world. This capability is based on a massive, global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given comScore permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behaviour, including online and offline purchasing. comScore panelists also participate in survey research that captures and integrates their attitudes and intentions. Through its proprietary technology, comScore measures what matters across a broad spectrum of behaviour and attitudes. comScore analysts apply this deep knowledge of customers and competitors to help clients design powerful marketing strategies and tactics that deliver superior ROI. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com.