Half of online Europeans use social networks in the last month

The Marketers & Consumers, Digital & Connected (MCDC) survey, examining the online behaviour and attitudes of 32,000 people in 16 markets, also found that while internet penetration levels vary widely within Europe, from 85% in the Netherlands to 32% 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%), with 76% going online for more than an hour on these days. With 77% accessing the internet every day, Northern Europeans are online more frequently, altohugh Eastern Europeans spend longer in an average session, with a third (33%) spending three hours or more each session.

There is a huge appetite for online entertainment in Eastern Europe, according to the IAB Europe, with 49% of those surveyed in Hungary, Poland and Romania watching TV or video content online, while 44% listen to the radio in real time, 31% download music and 27% game and gamble online.

A recent comScore report revealed that US online video views hit record levels in December with over 33 billion videos watched during the month.

Nearly 178 million US internet users watched an online video, with YouTube remaining the top destination.

Catherine Borrel, IAB Europe head of research, said: “We call MCDC a goldmine because of its scale and ability to put a face on the internet user across this diverse region. The results give us a huge range of material to get under the skin of the consumer in each of the 16 markets, as well as from a pan-European view.

“From behaviour ranging from ecommerce to media consumption, from attitudes to privacy and advertising, MCDC helps us see how the pieces of the European online jigsaw fit together.”