Survey considers Europeans' online behaviour

IAB Europe has released a survey of the online behaviour and attitudes of 32,000 people in 16 markets, which revealed striking differences - and similarities - in the way Europeans are using the web.

Designed to help marketers understand the impact the internet continues to have on our lives in both the region as whole and its individual markets, the annual MCDC (Marketers and Consumers, Digital and Connected) research is carried out by Insites Consulting.

While internet penetration levels vary widely within Europe, from 85 per cent in the Netherlands to 32 per cent in Romania, the time spent and frequency of use varies very little between countries.

Most internet users go online six or seven days a week (71 per cent), with 76 per cent going online for more than an hour on these days.

With 77 per cent accessing the internet every day, northern Europeans are online more frequently, but eastern Europeans spend longer in an average session with 33 per cent spending three hours or more per session.

Almost all internet access across Europe is via broadband, with narrowband accounting for just three per cent of internet connections.

Wireless connections are popular in the home, but with significant variations: in northern Europe, Norway boasts 63 per cent penetration; in southern Europe more Spanish homes are wireless at 59 per cent; and only 19 per cent of Hungary's homes are cable free.

The results show that the appetite for consuming entertainment online is huge in eastern Europe.

Forty-nine per cent of those surveyed in Hungary, Poland and Romania watch television or video content online, 44 per cent listen to the radio in real time, 31 per cent download music and 27 per cent game and gamble online.

Fifty-two per cent of all internet users surveyed had updated or viewed a profile on a social network in the last month.

As with web entertainment, the eastern Europeans lead the way with 59 per cent having viewed or updated a profile in the last month.

At 65 per cent, participation is highest in Hungary, followed by Romania at 61 per cent and Poland at 56 per cent.

E-commerce is a significant part of the web in western and northern Europe.

Fifty-seven per cent of all European internet users have purchased a product or service online in the last 12 months, and 74 per cent say they research information on products and services online at least once a week.

Eastern Europe is the only region where respondents are more likely to have bought an item from another internet user (27 per cent) than from an e-commerce website (24 per cent).

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