UKOM Data Report: August 2011

63% of the UK population accessed the internet in August, a month when the UK’s online activities hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Among the general civil unrest across the country, news stories highlighted the methods used by rioters to organise themselves and the wider role social media played played.

Twitter, Facebook and other social networks came under scrutiny, highlighting the ease in which people could communicate to a mass audience. These events once again brought the issues around internet regulation to the forefront of discussions in Westminster.

Despite the attention cast on online activities in mainstream media the internet population fell slightly, down 123,000 users month on month, with a total of 38.6 million users. Over 60% of those online in August were aged 35 and above, while the lower half of the social grades represented 41%. Further information can be found here.

Media Owners

It should come as no surprise that Google was the most popular media owner in the UK’s online universe in August. The Google brand, as well as the numerous channels that include YouTube, Picassa, Google Docs, Blogger and Gmail, saw a total of 34 million users access its services. This translates to an actual real population reach of 57%. Microsoft, which encompasses brands and channels such as WindowsLive, Hotmail, SkyDrive and Microsoft Office, attracted the attention of 48.6% of the real UK population, making the technology giant the second biggest online media owner.

Despite the increasingly negative press surrounding the Murdoch family, News Corp. Online came in 14th place with an audience of 8.9 million users. News Corp. Newspapers only accounted for half of this audience with channels like MySpace and IGN Entertainment Network filling in the rest.

Brands

The BBC saw the biggest actual change in the top ten brands in August, increasing the amount of users by 1.2 million. All but two brands saw an increase in traffic – with Yahoo! slipping down one place but only losing 85,000 users during the month. Trimming its audience by 1.5%, the Microsoft brand fell two places (down 256,000 users).

Collaborative project Wikipedia witnessed the biggest percentage increase in August, growing by 7.4%. The month also saw increased traffic in both of the retail brands to feature in the top ten – eBay and Amazon, which both moved up one place (a MoM rise of 6.4% and 5.9% respectively).

Travel

The realisation that summer was dwindling to a close prompted some people across the country into action with many of the top travel sites seeing an increase in traffic. National Rail saw a biggest jump in users, in terms of both actual and percentage change. Gaining 18.6% users MoM helped push the National Rail site up one place.

Lastminute.com Network, destination of the wishful thinking, jumped into the top ten; caused by a 13% increase in audience. Despite this interest in unplanned escapes, traffic for easyJet was down 5% – dropping two places.

Travel: Destinations

Destination, a sub-category of Travel, saw a similar increase in activity during August. While parents across the country began counting down the days until they heard the sound of school bells ringing once again, the internet proved a hive of suggestion for bored families. Dayoutwiththekids.co.uk nearly doubled its users MoM, helping it move to the top spot within the sub-category.

Both LEGOLAND and Thorpe Park moved up two places – increasing users by around a quarter MoM. Chessington and Surfdome witnessed a surge of over 50% of users. Country-specific destinations didn’t fare so well with VisitScotland down 108,000 users, helping it slip from top place, and DiscoverIreland dropping out the top ten altogether. Further category and sub-category reports can be run here.

Social Sites

Facebook increased its unique audience by over half a million users and had active reach of over 67% of the UK’s online population during the month. Time spent per person also increased massively, up to 7 hours 23 minutes. The social network showed a bias towards the upper classes with nearly 60% of users falling into the ABC1 category.

Microblogging platform Tumblr saw a MoM increase in users of 35%, moving it up one place. Myspace, the first mainstream online network, fell two places as a result of losing 67,000 users in August. Squidoo jumped into the top ten by gaining an extra 869,000 users (up 31%) MoM.

TV News Online

Traditional TV news brands also saw increased online interest, benefiting from the immediate nature of the UK riots. BBC News attracted 1.5 million more users in August, a 15% increase. Sky News increased its audience by 45%, although this translates to an actual change of 690,000 users. ITV News, which proved a far-less popular online news destination than its rivals, only managed to attract 157,000 users overall.