Online Usage Round-Up Q2 2008

Internet users have grown by 1.8 million people in the past year according to data released by research company BMRB. According to figures for the second quarter of 2008, the YOY change for this period is 6.2%. Year on year analysis indicates that while more people are going online for the first time it is at a much slower pace.

Figures over the past year show that there is a slowdown of fresh users logging in.

Accessing the internet from home continues to be the top choice for UK internet users. It is also the quickest growing location with a YOY rise of 8.3%, meaning now 30.5 million people have the ability to log on at home. Work users also grew to nearly 11 million people, up 3.3% YOY. Academic users fell by 4.2% YOY.

The gender gap continues to close with female internet users rising by nearly 2.5 million since Q2 06. By comparison male online activity only grew by 1.3 million users in that same period. This is reflected in the Q2 YOY year comparisons with male users growing by 4.1% compared to 8.4% change in female activity.

While the 65+ age category has the smallest amount of people at 2.6 million, they are growing much faster than other age brackets as the internet becomes more accessible to people not necessarily familiar with technology. Since the same time last year, people over the age of 65 have made their online presence felt with an impressive increase of 21.3%. The group with the largest number, the 35-44’s at 7.37 million people, had a YOY increase of 6.2%. There has been little change with the youngest group – the 15-24’s – with an increase of 1.1%.

Continuing the trend over the last few years, the lower classes’ internet use continues to grow at a much faster rate than their more affluent counterparts. This could be down the increasing affordability of high speed internet connections. At the top end of the scale the AB grades have a YOY increase of 2.8%. C2 & DE’s saw an impressive increase, of 11.9% and 12.6% respectively.

BMRB: www.bmrb.co.uk