Europe Internet Audiences Jump - Russia Grows Most, Nordics Most Active

Europe recorded its largest-ever internet audience in September, reaching 226.7 million unique visitors age 15 or older; that’s a 5 percent year-over-year increase, according to a comScore World Metrix study into the online habits of European internet audiences, writes MarketingCharts.

Russia had the fastest-growing online audience, increasing 23 percent to 14.6 million unique visitors, followed by Spain, which grew 18 percent to 14.5 million unique visitors, and Ireland, which grew 16 percent to 1.5 million, according to ComScore. (See table European internet audiences’ growth.)

“Many countries in Europe are still demonstrating robust growth in internet usage,” said Bob Ivins, comScore EVP of International Markets. “And given the relatively low internet penetration in several major European countries, there is plenty of upside in the European market. Russia, with only 12 percent of its population online, appears poised for substantial growth.”

More findings from the comScore study, below.

Largest internet populations:

• The country with the largest online audience was Germany with 33.2 million unique visitors, followed closely by the U.K. with 32.2 million. Together, they account for 29 percent of the total European online audience.
• Europe’s third-largest online country, France, was also its fourth fastest-growing, recording a 14 percent gain and reaching 27.3 million unique visitors in September.

Highest rates of internet penetration:

• Internet adoption was highest in the Netherlands, where 82 percent of the country’s population age 15 or older was online in September.
• After the Netherlands, adoption rates were highest in the Nordic region: The internet was accessed by 73 percent of the total population of Sweden, 72 percent of Denmark and Norway, and 66 percent of the Finnish population.
• The Nordic region also produced some of the most active online audiences in all of Europe (see table of hours and pages per visitor). On average, internet users in Sweden viewed more pages than any other European country: 3,844 pages per visitor.
• Users in Sweden also spent the second-longest average period of time on the internet in September at 30.1 hours per visitor. Finland’s online audience viewed the second-most number of pages, averaging 3,266 pages per visitor.
• The U.K. internet audience spent the most time online at an average of 33.0 hours for the month. It also viewed the highest number of pages outside of the Nordic region, averaging 3,252 pages per visitor per month, slightly ahead of the Netherlands’ 3,051.