Nearly Half of European Online Audience Visit Sports Sites

Comscore Releases Overview of European Internet Usage for February 2012

LONDON, UK, 12 April 2012 - Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an overview of internet usage in Europe, showing that 386.6 million Europeans went online in February 2012 for an average of 28.2 hours per person. This release highlights internet usage in 49 European markets aggregated into the European region and provides individual reporting on 18 markets. Amongst its findings, the study also showed that 46 percent of Europeans visit Sports sites, with Turkey and Ireland having the highest penetration at approximately 70 percent in February 2012.

71 Percent of Turkish Internet Users Keen on Sport
177.1 million internet users (45.8 percent reach) in Europe visited a Sports site in February, representing an increase of 15 percent in the past year. Sports sites reached 70.7 percent (16.4 million users) of the internet audience in Turkey, the highest penetration for the category across Europe. Globally, Turkey ranked a close second for penetration of Sports sites behind only the United States (70.9 percent). Ireland also proved to have keen sports fans with nearly 70 percent of the online audience accessing these sites, followed by Spain (65.9 percent) and the UK (64.3 percent).

Top 10 European Markets for Sports Sites Ranked by Percent Reach
February 2012
Total European Audience, Age 15+, Home and Work Locations
Source: Comscore MMX

Sports

% Reach

Total Unique Visitors (000)

Europe

45.8%

177,098

Turkey

70.7%

16,472

Ireland

69.8%

1,644

Spain

65.9%

14,136

United Kingdom

64.3%

24,090

Poland

56.8%

10,285

Netherlands

51.2%

6,096

Portugal

46.1%

1,998

France

45.5%

19,523

Finland

45.0%

1,527

Italy

44.3%

12,519

Males Nearly 2x More Engaged With Sports Sites
A demographic analysis of the internet users visiting Sports sites revealed that an average male user spent 68.0 minutes consuming sports content compared to an average female user who spent 36.5 minutes during the month. Males accounted for 58.7 percent (104.0 million users) of all users accessing Sports sites while females accounted for 41.3 percent (73.1 million users). 25-34 year old men exhibited the heaviest engagement with an average of 82.4 minutes per user surfing sports sites during the month. Interestingly, amongst women, the most engaged age group were the 45-54 year olds who spent 40.8 minutes on the category on average in February 2012.

Demographic Analysis of European Internet Users Accessing Sports Sites
February 2012
Total European Audience Age 15+, Home or Work Locations
Source: Comscore MMX

Sports

Target Audience (000)

Average Minutes per Visitor

Total Internet Audience: Age 15+

177,098

55.0

Males - Age

All Males (15+)

104,012

68.0

Males: 15-24

24,763

74.4

Males: 25-34

25,844

82.4

Males: 35-44

21,408

62.9

Males: 45-54

16,908

55.3

Males: 55+

15,090

54.5

Females - Age

All Females (15+)

73,086

36.5

Females: 15-24

16,776

32.1

Females: 25-34

18,506

39.0

Females: 35-44

15,333

38.3

Females: 45-54

12,267

40.8

Females: 55+

10,204

31.5

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 54.6 million users going online in February. The UK audience was the most engaged across Europe, with an average user spending 36.7 hours online. Turkey ranked first when it came to the average pages a user visited during the month (3,937 pages on average per visitor).

Overview of European Internet Usage by Country
Ranked by Total Unique Visitors (000)
February 2012
Total Europe Audience, Age 15+, Home and Work Locations
Source: Comscore MMX

Total Unique Visitors (000)

Average Hours per Visitor

Average Pages per Visitor

Worldwide

1,448,160

24.8

2,395

Europe

386,619

28.2

3,035

Russian Federation

54,566

26.7

3,080

Germany

50,951

26.5

2,999

France

42,911

26.6

2,721

United Kingdom

37,447

36.7

3,404

Italy

28,247

18.8

1,980

Turkey

23,295

33.9

3,937

Spain

21,456

25.4

2,205

Poland

18,097

30.6

3,442

Netherlands

11,915

34.8

3,382

Sweden

6,216

25.3

2,612

Belgium

6,093

22.5

2,435

Switzerland

4,849

19.6

2,029

Austria

4,743

15.0

1,651

Portugal

4,332

21.1

2,146

Denmark

3,673

23.0

2,405

Finland

3,390

27.5

2,764

Norway

3,272

28.4

2,655

Ireland

2,354

20.1

1,966

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.

Ayaan Mohamud
Comscore, Inc.
+ 44 (0) 203-111-1758
worldpress@comscore.com