Nearly 50 Percent of Internet Users in Europe Visit Newspaper Sites

Comscore Releases Overview of European Internet Usage for November 2011

LONDON, UK, 19 January 2012 - Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an overview of Internet usage in Europe, showing that 379.4 million Europeans went online in November 2011 for an average of 27.8 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 47.8 percent of Europeans visit Newspaper sites, with a notable percentage of visits to the top 5 Newspaper sites preceded by a visit to Facebook.

Nearly 1 in 2 Europeans Visit Newspaper Sites
In November 2011, 181.5 million unique people in Europe visited Newspaper sites, an increase of 9 percent from the previous year. The Daily Mail continued to attract the largest audience at 20.1 million unique visitors, followed by the Guardian at 15.7 million unique visitors. Turkish newspapers Hürriyet and Milliyet and German newspaper Bild rounded out the top five Newspaper properties, with each attracting approximately 10 million unique visitors.

Top Newspaper Sites in Europe by Total Unique Visitors (000)
November 2011
Total European Audience, Age 15+, Home and Work Locations
Source: Comscore MMX

Total Unique Visitors (000)

Total Internet : Total Audience

379,402

News/Information - Newspapers

181,529

Mail Online

20,068

Guardian.co.uk

15,705

Hurriyet.com.tr

10,429

Bild.de

9,663

Milliyet.com.tr

9,628

ElPais.com

8,472

Elmundo.es Sites

7,849

KP.ru (Komsomolskaya Pravda)

7,233

Telegraph Media Group

6,877

RIA.ru (RIA Novosti)

6,182

An analysis of the sites visited by Europeans prior to visiting the top 5 Newspaper sites shows that Google Sites preceded at least 12 percent of visits to the top 5 Newspaper sites, with a significantly higher percentage seen for the Daily Mail and the Guardian (more than 23 percent of inbound site traffic). At least 10 percent of visits are preceded by a visit to Facebook, second only to Google Sites. (This data includes both direct referrals from Facebook links and visits initiated by direct user navigation following a visit to Facebook.)

Interestingly, the percentage of traffic to these sites preceded by a visit to Facebook has significantly increased in each case, highlighting both Facebook’s growing prominence in the European web landscape and its increasing ability to drive referral traffic. The percentage of inbound site traffic preceded by a Facebook visit was highest at Turkish site Milliyet, where it accounted for nearly a fifth of traffic (18.9 percent). Facebook visitation also preceded a significant percentage of inbound traffic to the Daily Mail and the Guardian, with both sites at approximately 13 percent, while German newspaper site Bild.de saw an even higher share (14.8 percent). Milliyet, the fifth largest European Newspaper site, demonstrated the highest point change in such traffic (9-percentage point increase), followed closely by the Guardian (8-percentage point increase).

Traffic to Top 5 Newspaper Sites in Europe Preceded by Facebook.com
November 2011 vs. November 2010
Total European Audience, Age 15+, Home and Work Locations
Source: Comscore MMX

Site

Percentage of Incoming Traffic Preceded by A Visit to Facebook.com

Nov-10

Nov-11

Point Change

Mail Online

8.5%

13.1%

4.6

Guardian.co.uk

4.6%

12.8%

8.2

Hurriyet.com.tr

6.5%

10.0%

3.5

Bild.de

8.4%

14.8%

6.4

Milliyet.com.tr

9.9%

18.9%

9.0

Fastest Growing Properties in Europe
Google Sites continued to rank as the top European web property in November with 347.3 million unique visitors, reaching 91.5 percent of the total European Internet audience. Meanwhile, Russian social network VKontakte continued to display the highest average engagement amongst the top properties, with European visitors spending 438.9 minutes (7.3 hours) on the site. Amongst the fastest growing properties in Europe from October to November were the home improvement retailer Kingfisher (up 21 percent), followed by French film property AlloCiné Sites (up 19 percent). Social networking site LinkedIn.com and daily deals site Groupon also ranked amongst the fastest growing properties, exhibiting a 6-percent month-on-month increase and a 4-percent increase, respectively.

Top 15 Fastest Growing Properties* in Europe by Total Unique Visitors (000)
November 2011 vs. October 2011
Total Europe Audience, Age 15+, Home and Work Locations
Source: Comscore MMX

Properties

Total Unique Visitors (000)

Oct-11

Nov-11

Percent Change

Total Internet Audience: Age 15+

372,066

373,433

1%

Kingfisher

14,850

18,028

21%

AlloCine Sites

12,743

15,147

19%

Search-Results.com

13,103

15,039

15%

Demand Media

15,320

17,434

14%

The Mozilla Organization

41,625

46,179

11%

LeGuide.com Sites

13,810

15,252

10%

VideoBB.com

14,443

15,748

9%

Sony Online

14,920

16,221

9%

Groupe PPR

24,930

27,003

8%

Babylon.com

17,984

19,061

6%

LinkedIn.com

27,725

29,366

6%

Wikia Sites

16,398

17,305

6%

New York Times Digital

23,818

25,070

5%

Rambler Media

22,565

23,596

5%

Groupon

23,487

24,508

4%

* Amongst the Top 100 online properties

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 grow and surpass Germany as the largest online market in Europe. The UK continued to show the highest engagement, with users spending an average of 38.2 hours online during the month.

Overview of European Internet Usage by Country
Ranked by Total Unique Visitors (000)
November 2011
Total Europe Audience, Age 15+, Home and Work Locations
Source: Comscore MMX

Total Unique Visitors (000)

Average Hours per Visitor

Average Pages per Visitor

World-Wide

1,438,877

24.4

2,353

Europe

379,402

27.8

2,982

Russian Federation

52,486

24.5

2,730

Germany

50,856

25.8

2,977

France

42,939

28.6

2,903

United Kingdom

37,477

38.2

3,450

Italy

24,225

18.8

2,027

Turkey

23,302

32.2

3,845

Spain

21,612

27.4

2,401

Poland

18,194

27.4

3,208

Netherlands

11,992

34.3

3,398

Sweden

6,231

25.9

2,697

Belgium

6,068

20.8

2,286

Switzerland

4,790

19.0

2,027

Austria

4,745

15.1

1,648

Portugal

4,286

21.2

2,186

Denmark

3,682

23.3

2,411

Finland

3,387

26.0

2,591

Norway

3,272

28.9

2,627

Ireland

2,355

21.3

2,071

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



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