The total number of people using the internet over the third quarter of 2007 comes to 30.6 million according to figures released by BMRB. This is a 7.9% increase on the same time last year.
Internet users in the UK broke the 30 million mark for the first time in Q2 of this year. In the past ten years the number of people online has increased by 25.7 million users.
Usage Location
Browsing at home continues to be the main location of choice for the UK. There are an extra 2 million home users than this time last year. Both Home and Work usage has grown, by 5% and 9% respectively, while academic users have fallen by a million since Q2.
| Internet Users By Location | |||||
| (millions) | 3rd Qtr 05 | 3rd Qtr 06 | 3rd Qtr 07 | YoY % Change Q305 – Q306 | YoY % Change Q306 – Q307 |
| All users | 25.61 | 28.342 | 30.566 | 10.7 | 7.8 |
| Work users | 8.791 | 9.958 | 10.463 | 13.3 | 5.1 |
| Home users | 23.331 | 26.427 | 28.822 | 13.3 | 9.1 |
| Academic users | 2.756 | 2.681 | 2.713 | -2.7 | 1.2 |
Gender
Men still continue to dominate the online gender divide, although the gap has been closing at a steady pace since 2000. The number of men grew 5.8% from this time last year while women increased their numbers by a huge 10%.
There are now 14.9 million women online in the UK compared to 5.7 seven years ago when BMRB first researched the matter.
| Internet Users By Gender | |||||
| (millions) | 3rd Qtr 05 | 3rd Qtr 06 | 3rd Qtr 07 | YoY % Change Q305 – Q306 | YoY % Change Q306 – Q307 |
| Male | 13.83 | 15.02 | 15.89 | 8.6 | 5.8 |
| Female | 11.78 | 13.32 | 14.67 | 13.1 | 10.1 |
Age
Silver Surfers continue to be the fastest growing age group connecting to the internet. The 45-54 and 65+ band had a year on year increase of 8%, compared to the 15-24 age group with growth of 2.7%. 35-44 year olds are still the highest users with seven million people in Q3.
| Internet Users By Age | |||||
| (millions) | 3rd Qtr 05 | 3rd Qtr 06 | 3rd Qtr 07 | YoY % Change Q305 – Q306 | YoY % Change Q306 – Q307 |
| 15-24 | 5.63 | 5.95 | 6.11 | 5.7 | 2.7 |
| 25-34 | 5.37 | 5.66 | 6.11 | 5.4 | 8.0 |
| 35-44 | 5.89 | 6.51 | 7.03 | 10.5 | 8.0 |
| 45-54 | 4.35 | 4.81 | 5.20 | 10.6 | 8.1 |
| 55-64 | 2.81 | 3.40 | 3.67 | 21.0 | 7.9 |
| 65+ | 1.53 | 1.98 | 2.14 | 29.4 | 8.1 |
Social Grade
There were close to 20 million ABC1 users online during Q3. DE’s increased 14.7% from last year. This is a fall from the 2005-2006 Q3 year on year comparison, which showed growth at 21%. While this is a year on year percentage fall, the lowest social grade is still the fastest grower when going online.
| Internet Users By Social Grade | |||||
| (millions) | 3rd Qtr 05 | 3rd Qtr 06 | 3rd Qtr 07 | YoY % Change Q305 – Q306 | YoY % Change Q306 – Q307 |
| AB | 8.7 | 9.06 | 9.78 | 4.1 | 7.9 |
| C1 | 8.45 | 9.35 | 10.09 | 10.7 | 7.9 |
| C2 | 4.73 | 5.38 | 5.81 | 13.7 | 8.0 |
| DE | 3.71 | 4.53 | 5.2 | 22.1 | 14.8 |
BMRB: www.bmrb.co.uk
