France and Italy Hit Double Digit Home Internet Usage Growth in 2004 But More Mature European Countries Slow to Single Digit Growth
That’s Still Better Than the US -- the Only Country to See Negative Growth!

Philip Stone March 30, 2005

For all the hype of the US multi-million dollar deals by media companies buying Internet news sites and the research showing Internet advertising already higher than before the dot.com bust, new research and statistics show Europe continues to expand its at-home usage, especially in its so-called emerging Internet markets, and growth continues also in more mature markets, albeit at a slower pace.
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Twelve countries provide 70% of the world’s Internet usage, with seven of those in Europe. France and Italy are still considered growth markets, and they proved that point by growing their at-home usage in 2004 by double percentage points. France saw a 19% gain, the second highest growth behind Hong Kong (25%) and Italy was third with 15%, according to the respected Nielsen/Net Ratings.

But in Europe’s more mature Internet markets, growth in home usage slowed to single digit gains. The UK and Sweden increased by 8%, Switzerland by 7%, Spain by 5% and Germany by 4%.

But coming in dead last was the US with a  –2% result, the only country to register negative growth.

So, what does all that mean? According to Kalzad Gotla, senior Internet analyst with Nilesen/Net Ratings it’s a signal that companies looking to grow their Internet usage should start looking outside the US.  Acknowledging that search engines and portals already have major international operations, he believes “There is an opportunity for smaller niche companies to create a strong brand (outside the US), because usage patterns are not as established as they are in the US.”

Does the US negative growth indicate it is the beginning of the end there? “No,” says Gotla.  He thinks it is just a pause before the next Gold Rush. “With increasing broadband connectivity, online advertising and investments in online, we are set for the next big thing,” he claims.

The Nielsen/NetRatings supported global statistics by Internet World Stats showing that the rest of the world is already outpacing the US in Internet usage.  Asia already accounts for 34% of the world’s Internet users; Europe has 29% and North America comes in third with 25%.

When judged as a percentage of a country’s population the US scores fifth with 67.8% of its population on the Web. Leading the table is Sweden (73.6%), Hong Kong (69.9%,) Denmark (68.7%) and Norway (68.3%)

If the European Union were counted as an entity (without EU non-members) it would score 47%.

But for all that on a global basis only 13.9% of the world’s population accesses the Internet. The worst performing area: Africa with just a 1.5% penetration of its population.

But there can be no doubt that the real growth area is Asia.  The region currently accounts for 34% of the world’s total users – the highest of any region – but that figure is reached with only 8.4% of its population on the Internet. With Europe at 35% penetration and North America at 67.4% it’s just going to be a matter of time for Asia to truly become the world’s Internet powerhouse.

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The French Seek Answers Via Internet - March 6, 2007

Médiamétrie, which measures all things media in France, added another remarkable discovery to the body of Francophone media knowledge. French internet users in January more than doubled access to Wikipedia – the on-line user-edited encyclopedia – over January 2006. Nearly 8 million French people – 33.5% of French web-surfers – visited in January, increasing from 15.3% one year on.

Of those French web-surfers consulting Wikipedia, the majority (58.5%) were over 35 years of age and 24.8% were over 50 year of age. Visitors checked out Wikipedia 2.7 times for an average of nine and a half minutes in January, against 1.8 times for just under 4 minutes in the previous (2006) January. Data on specific subjects was not released.

Google continues to lead the list of favored web-sites in France, 19 million unique visitors. On-line auction site eBay attracted 9.5 million French web-surfers, ranked number 8 for January.

Using the internet at home or the workplace continues to take more time away from other media – not to forget other typical French pursuits. Internet time increased to nearly 26 hours per month, 3 hours and 11 minutes more than January 2006. The number of home web-surfers increased 22% in the year. Médiamétrie did not offer insight into activities diminished.