UKOM Data Report: April 2011

April saw the UK’s online audience pass the 40 million mark for the second time in 2011. According to data released by online measurement company UKOM, the online population grew by less than 0.9% period on period – the extra 358,000 users bringing the total UK audience up to 40.3 million for the month of April. UKOM data for December 2010 and January 2011 showed the total audience just above 40 million people but usage slipped in the following months.

 
Despite this overall rise in users throughout April, many of the internet’s biggest brands saw a drop in users. The vast majority of internet users were based in London (18% of the total UK users). 5.3 million people logged on from the Midlands, the second largest concentration of users.

Brands

In contrast to the overall increase of users in April most the top ten web brands actually witnessed a loss. Social network Facebook was the only brand in the top ten to see a rise in usage, increasing users by 86,000 (up 0.3% PoP). Microsoft saw the biggest actual loss in April, down 1.16 million users from March 2011. Sessions per person were also affected, down from six to five. Wikipedia also saw a loss in April, down 943,000 users (-6.3%). While retail giant Amazon has witnessed a negative trend in recent months it suffered the smallest percentage loss out of the top brands in April, down 0.3% PoP.