European online audience up to 365.3 million unique visitors

365.3 million unique visitors went online in Europe in April 2011, for an average of 24.2 hours per person, according to new comScore data.

The Netherlands showed the highest average engagement at 31.3 hours per person, 30% higher than the collective European average (out of 18 markets).

Google sites ranked as the top European web property in April, attracting 329.8 million unique visitors and reaching 90.3% of the total European online audience. Microsoft Sites ranked second with 269.3 million visitors (73.7% reach), followed by Facebook.com in third place with 236.9 million visitors (64.9% reach). Among the top properties for April, the biggest gains were seen by VEVO (up 3%) and Facebook.com (up 1%).

Social networks continued to drive engagement in Europe, with Russian social network VKontakte exhibiting the highest average engagement among the top 30 properties. In April, visitors spent an average of 494.9 minutes or 8.2 hours on the site, representing a significant 22% increase from the previous month. Russian Mail.ru Group ranked second at 293.9 minutes or 4.9 hours, followed by Facebook.com with an average of 283.6 minutes or 4.7 hours.

Despite VKontakte’s lead in engagement, Facebook.com continued to account for the highest number of page views for April – with 115.5 billion page views (up 5%), representing 12.8% of all pages viewed that month.

In April, the number of European visitors to the travel category grew 11% year on year. Travel properties, which include online travel agents, destination information sites, and transportation and accommodation sites, now penetrate 44.0% of the European internet audience.

Expedia, which includes TripAdvisor sites, Expedia sites, and Hotels.com sites, attracted the most unique visitors in April 2011 (21.7 million).