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

LONDON, U.K., June 4, 2007 – 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+*
April 2007
Home and Work Locations
Source: Comscore World Metrix

Internet Penetration**

Monthly Unique Users (000)

Average Daily Users (000)

Average Usage Days per User per Month

Average Monthly Hours per User

Average Monthly Pages per User

Top 3 Properties Based on Monthly Unique Visitors

1

2

3

Europe

40%

221,463

121,774

16.5

24.1

2,662

Google

Microsoft

Yahoo!

Austria

53%

3,721

1,485

12

16.3

1,906

Google

Microsoft

eBay

Belgium

54%

4,728

2,447

15.5

20.6

2,399

Google

Microsoft

Belgacom Group

Denmark

68%

3,045

1,493

14.7

22

3,058

Google

Microsoft

Lycos Europe Sites

Finland

65%

2,818

1,544

16.4

29.7

3,749

Google

Microsoft

SanomaWSOY

France

51%

25,388

14,531

17.2

26.1

2,768

Google

Microsoft

France Telecom

Germany

46%

32,578

18,359

16.9

22.6

2,807

Google

Microsoft

eBay

Ireland

42%

1,365

591

13

18.9

1,871

Google

Microsoft

Yahoo!

Italy

36%

18,086

7,783

12.9

17.7

1,862

Google

Microsoft

Yahoo!

Netherlands

83%

11,292

7,350

19.5

27

3,131

Google

Microsoft

SanomaWSOY

Norway

70%

2,620

1,288

14.7

27.4

3,080

Microsoft

Google

Aftonbladet Hierta

Portugal

44%

3,882

1,731

13.4

23.3

2,454

Google

Microsoft

Portugal Telecom

Russia

11%

13,255

5,048

11.4

13.3

1,695

YANDEX.RU

MAIL.RU

Rambler Media

Spain

39%

13,628

8,828

19.4

30.6

2,675

Google

Microsoft

Yahoo!

Sweden

70%

5,259

2,895

16.5

31.7

4,019

Microsoft

Google

Aftonbladet Hierta

Switzerland

58%

3,666

1,846

15.1

22.7

2,676

Google

Microsoft

Swisscom

U.K.

62%

31,150

21,767

21

34.4

3,440

Google

Microsoft

eBay

U.S.

66%

156,697

114,472

21.9

31.4

2,826

Yahoo!

Time Warner Network

Google

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

Press
Bill Daddi
Daddi Brand Communications
646-370-1341
press@comscore.com