The Netherlands and France Have the Highest Penetration of Online Banking Users in Europe

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 Unique Visitors (000)

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

Total Unique Visitors (000)

Nov-2011

Dec-2011

% Change

Total Internet Audience: Age 15+

379,402

381,546

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

9%

Turner Digital

16,846

18,421

9%

Break Media

20,782

22,677

9%

Terra - Telefonica

23,642

25,701

9%

LeGuide.com Sites

15,252

16,471

8%

Amazon Sites

109,496

117,795

8%

* 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

Total Unique Visitors (000)

Average Hours per Visitor

Average Pages per Visitor

Worldwide

1,444,092

24.4

2,354

Europe

381,546

27.5

2,935

Russian Federation

53,345

25.1

2,792

Germany

51,008

25.2

2,885

France

43,009

27.5

2,786

United Kingdom

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

Netherlands

11,997

32.2

3,167

Sweden

6,242

25.1

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

Finland

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 Radwanick
Director, Regional Product Marketing
Comscore, Inc.
+44 (0) 20 7099 1784
worldpress@comscore.com



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