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November 29, 2005
Europeans spend more time on the Internet
The average European Internet user now spends 10 hours 15 minutes a week online compared to 8hrs 45mins a week in 2004, a 17% increase. Looking back over a two year period reveals that Europeans are spending 56% more time online compared to 2003, research by the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA) reveals.
The research highlights the emergence of a new group of super Internet users across Europe. Almost a quarter (24%) of those questioned spend more than 16 hours per week using the Internet while 69% are online 5 or more days per week. The figures for broadband users are even more staggering with nearly a third (31%) spending more than 16 hours per week online.
While total media consumption has generally increased across the board, the amount of time spent using the Internet is growing at a faster rate than other media. In the same period that online saw a 17% increase, TV use increased by just 6%, radio by 14%, newspapers by 13% while magazines saw a 7% decrease in time spent using.
Increasing broadband penetration across Europe is turning consumers into much more sophisticated Internet users. Twenty-nine percent of those questioned download music at least once a month, most likely driven by the arrival of a wave of online music stores such as Apple’s iTunes.
Blogging is also becoming increasingly popular with 13% regularly contributing to online blogging sites while 12% are downloading podcasts at least once a month. Even very new technologies such as Voice over IP (VoIP) are proving popular with consumers with 10% of Europeans are already using the Internet to make telephone calls.
The study involved 7,000 random telephone interviews with 1,000 respondents in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the Nordics and 500 respondents in Belgium and the Netherlands. Interviews were conducted between September and October 2005.
http://www.eiaa.net/news/eiaa-articles-details.asp?lang=1&id=79
Posted by Pieter at November 29, 2005 12:43 PM