European Online Travel Industry Shows 11 Percent Growth in the Past YearLONDON, UK, June 1, 2011 - Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an overview of internet usage in Europe, showing 365.3 million unique visitors went online in April 2011 for an average of 24.2 hours per person. This study draws its analysis from Comscore’s research panel, which shows internet usage in 49 European markets aggregated under the European region and provides individual reports on 18 markets. Among the 18 markets, the Netherlands showed the highest average engagement at 31.3 hours per person, 30 percent higher than the collective European average.
Overview of European Internet Usage by Country Ranked by Total Unique Visitors (000) April 2011 Total Europe Audience, Age 15+, Home and Work Locations Source: Comscore MMX
Location
Total Unique Visitors (000)
Average Hours per Visitor
Average Pages per Visitor
World-Wide
1,362,369
21.9
1,963
Europe
365,274
24.2
2,462
Germany
49,860
21.7
2,389
Russian Federation
47,853
22.3
2,355
France
42,300
24.9
2,364
United Kingdom
36,451
29.8
2,697
Italy
23,087
16.6
1,584
Turkey
22,834
29.3
3,121
Spain
21,384
23.8
2,177
Poland
18,193
2,743
Netherlands
11,958
31.3
3,105
Sweden
6,150
2,141
Belgium
5,924
18.1
1,844
Austria
4,665
12.5
1,336
Switzerland
4,656
17.5
1,713
Portugal
4,122
19.9
1,872
Denmark
3,644
18.4
1,903
Finland
3,342
2,167
Norway
3,219
23.0
1,858
Ireland
2,064
19.0
1,700
Top Web Properties in Europe Google Sites ranked as the top European web property in April, attracting 329.8 million unique visitors and reaching 90.3 percent of the total European Internet audience. Microsoft Sites ranked second with 269.3 million visitors (73.7 percent reach), followed by Facebook.com in third place with 236.9 million visitors (64.9 percent reach). Among the top properties for April, the biggest gains were seen by VEVO (up 3 percent) and Facebook.com (up 1 percent).
Social networks continued to drive engagement among Europeans, with Russian social network VKontakte exhibiting the highest average engagement among the top 30 properties. In April, visitors spent an average of 494.9 minutes or 8.2 hours on the site, representing a significant 22 percent increase from the previous month. Russian Mail.ru Group ranked second at 293.9 minutes or 4.9 hours, followed by Facebook.com with an average of 283.6 minutes or 4.7 hours.
Despite VKontakte’s lead in engagement, Facebook.com continued to account for the highest number of page views for April with 115.5 billion page views (up 5 percent), representing 12.8 percent of all pages viewed that month.
Top 30 Properties in Europe by Total Unique Visitors (000) April 2011 Total Europe Audience, Age 15+, Home and Work Locations Source: Comscore MMX
Properties
Total Pages Viewed (MM)
Average Minutes per Visitor
Total Internet : Total Audience
899,385
1,450.1
Google Sites
329,765
87,594
170.9
Microsoft Sites
269,278
24,291
177.7
Facebook.com
236,935
115,543
283.6
Wikimedia Foundation Sites
149,211
2,046
11.8
Yahoo! Sites
137,792
8,515
67.4
eBay
103,232
12,798
55.7
Amazon Sites
88,237
2,382
14.6
VEVO
70,930
664
11.3
Mail.ru Group
69,072
29,566
293.9
Apple Inc.
64,552
465
4.9
AOL, Inc.
63,100
1,567
27.2
Glam Media
60,224
854
10.4
Ask Network
54,385
563
4.5
Axel Springer AG
54,377
1,666
14.9
Yandex Sites
54,162
7,869
69.3
Viacom Digital
53,552
497
10.7
CBS Interactive
52,225
534
8.7
Dailymotion.com
51,981
699
11.0
The Mozilla Organization
51,492
304
6.6
VKontakte
46,735
31,652
494.9
WordPress
46,110
336
4.7
Adobe Sites
44,341
199
2.7
Orange Sites
40,400
4,406
NetShelter Technology Media
39,680
406
5.7
Deutsche Telekom
38,182
2,302
33.6
Technorati Media
37,771
223
3.6
BBC Sites
33,030
1,322
34.3
Schibsted (Anuntis-Infojobs-20minutos)
32,751
4,752
71.2
Twitter.com
30,829
585
14.2
Otto Gruppe
29,523
1,127
16.9
Spotlight: Growth of the Online Travel Industry in Europe In April 2011, the number of European visitors to the Travel category grew 11 percent in the past year. Travel properties, which include online travel agents, destination information sites, and transportation and accommodation sites, now penetrate 44.0 percent of the European internet audience, a 5percentage point increase. The U.K. continues to lead European markets in Travel category penetration at 66.5 percent, up 8percentage points from a year ago. Ireland and Spain show similarly high penetration rates, with 58.7 percent reach and 57.3 percent reach, respectively. Although Russia currently has the lowest penetration rate for Travel properties among the eighteen markets at 27.8 percent, it showed the highest growth in unique visitors over the past year with a 41 percent increase.
Top 10 European Markets by % Reach of Travel Properties April 2011 Total Europe Audience, Age 15+, Home and Work Locations Source: Comscore MMX
Countries
% Reach
Point Change vs. Year Ago
66.5%
8%
58.7%
5%
57.3%
-5%
56.6%
-3%
56.0%
3%
50.9%
-2%
50.5%
12%
47.3%
-15%
47.2%
-8%
45.4%
Expedia Inc., which includes TripAdvisor Sites, Expedia Sites, and Hotels.com Sites, attracted the most unique visitors in April 2011 with 21.7 million. Priceline.com Inc. followed with 16.4 million unique visitors, up 10 percent versus last year – the highest growth rate among the top Travel properties in Europe. Priceline’s sizeable audience was fueled in large part by hotel reservation site Booking.com, which attracted 15.8 million visitors. Groupe SNCF (French National Railway Corporation) was the third most heavily visited property in April with 9.3 million visitors.
Top 10 Travel Properties in Europe by Total Unique Visitors (000) April 2011 Total Europe Audience, Age 15+, Home and Work Locations Source: Comscore MMX
% Change vs. Year Ago
Expedia Inc.
21,669
-4%
Priceline.com Incorporated
16,443
10%
Groupe SNCF
9,330
2%
TUI Group
8,587
Ryanair
7,509
-12%
TravelAdNetwork
7,302
7%
Deutsche Bahn
6,750
1%
Travelocity
6,148
-25%
Easyjet.com
6,124
4%
Thomas Cook Group PLC
5,356
Comscore to Speak at Emerce eTravel Comscore VP Tsjerk Kooistra will be speaking at Emerce eTravel in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on June 9, 2011. Mr. Kooistra will provide insights into the state of the online travel industry and explain the importance of web analytics, effective campaign management, and customer engagement measurement for travel retailers seeking to capitalize on the growth in this industry. If you are planning on attending and would like to arrange an interview with Mr. Kooistra, please contact Helene Azevedo at worldpress@comscore.com.
About ComscoreComscore, 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.
Ayaan MohamudComscore, Inc. + 44 (0) 203-111-1758worldpress@comscore.com