Web-Based Email Usage in Europe Jumps 14 Percent Over Past Year

comScore Releases June 2012 Overview of European Internet Usage

London, UK – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an overview of internet usage in Europe during June 2012, showing that 397.2 million Europeans went online for an average of 25.9 hours. The June report, which includes internet usage in 49 European markets aggregated into the European region and individual reporting on 18 markets, also highlights that web-based email is still popular among European internet users. Nearly 70 percent of the European internet audience accessed Email sites during the month, displaying a growth rate of 3.7 percentage points over the past year. UK and Spain ranked first for penetration, with web-based Email reaching 82.7 percent and 79.2 percent of their respective internet audiences.

Advertisement

Web-Based Email Sees Growth Across European Countries 
In Europe, 276.5 million people accessed sites like Hotmail and Google Gmail via their computer, equalling to a 69.5 percent reach among the internet audience above 15 years of age. The number of European web-based email users grew by 14 percent over the past year to 276 million, while total penetration increases by 3.7 percentage points.

The UK had the highest market penetration of web-based email usage at 82.7 percent with the total number of users increasing 9 percent versus last year. Among the top 10 email markets in Europe, Ireland had the fastest growing audience (up 23 percent), followed by Russia (up 21 percent).

Top 10 European Markets for E-mail Sites by Percent Reach 
June 2011 vs June 2012
Europe: Age 15+, Home & Work Locations
Source: comScore MMX
Percent Reach Among Internet Audience Total Audience (000)
June 2012 Pp YoY Change June 2012 % YoY Change
Europe 69.5% +3.7pp 276,480 +14%
United Kingdom 82.7% +5.2pp 31,141 +9%
Spain 79.2% +1.2pp 17,330 +3%
Netherlands 78.9% +3.3pp 9,469 +5%
France 77.2% +1.6pp 33,364 +4%
Portugal 73.2% -1.9pp 3,294 +5%
Poland 70.5% N/A 13,098 N/A
Russian Federation 69.6% +0.5pp 40,940 +21%
Ireland 69.4% +3.6pp 1,693 +23%
Sweden 68.7% +6.1pp 4,339 +12%
Germany 66.5% -0.7pp 34,485 +2%

Hotmail Reigns Among Web-based Email Sites
Microsoft’s Hotmail, recently renamed Outlook.com, ranked as the top web-based email provider in Europe with 108.2 million visitors (up 1 percent vs. year ago) for an average of 1.9 hours per user during the month. Google’s Gmail ranked second in the Email category with 74.7 million users but saw a much stronger growth rate of 18 percent over the past year. Yahoo! Mail came in third with 44.3 million users, and was the most engaging email portal among the top 5 (2.1 hours per user). Russian providers Mail.ru Mail and Yandex Mail rounded up the top five attracting 42.3 million and 25.1 million users respectively, and experienced the strongest audience growth rates among the top 5 European web-based email sites.

Top 5 Email Sites in Europe by Total Audience (000)
June 2011 vs June 2012
Total Europe: Age 15+, Home & Work Locations
Source: comScore MMX
Total Unique Visitors (000) Average Minutes per Visitor
June 2012 % YoY Change June 2012 % YoY Change
E-mail 276,480 +14% 106.4 -6%
Hotmail 108,202 +1% 110.7 -14%
Google Gmail 74,670 +18% 59.5 +7%
Yahoo! Mail 44,290 +4% 127.3 +29 %
Mail.Ru – Mail 42,767 +22% 19.7 +15%
Yandex Mail 25,143 +37% 17.1 +58%

European Internet Usage by Country
Below is a snapshot of European internet usage in the 18 reportable markets for which comScore provides individual reporting. The Russian internet audience continued to be the largest online market in Europe with 58.8 million users going online in June. The UK audience was by far the most engaged market across Europe, with an average user spending 37.9 hours online.

Overview of European Internet Usage by Country Ranked by Unique Visitors (000)
June 2012
Total European Internet Audience, Age 15+, Home and Work Locations
Source: comScore MMX
Total Unique Visitors (000) Average Hours per Visitor Average Pages per Visitor
Worldwide 1,491,181 24.0 2,289
Europe 397,762 25.9 2,694
Russian Federation 58,803 23.6 2,506
Germany 51,825 24.5 2,754
France 43,214 27.7 2,793
United Kingdom 37,665 37.9 3,434
Italy 28,568 16.6 1,688
Turkey 23,779 26.8 3,062
Spain 21,880 24.4 2,127
Poland 18,579 27.9 3,149
Netherlands 12,006 32.6 3,147
Sweden 6,319 21.8 2,190
Belgium 6,223 21.9 2,264
Switzerland 4,978 17.5 1,802
Austria 4,868 13.5 1,417
Portugal 4,501 20.2 2,011
Denmark 3,726 21.1 2,207
Finland 3,434 24.5 2,495
Norway 3,313 26.7 2,504
Ireland 2,438 20.4 1,957

About comScore 
comScore, 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.

[cb type=”company”]comscore[/cb]