Europeans Spend 24 Hours A Month Surfing

A new study has examined online usage and penetration in Europe, revealing that the average European spends 24 hours a month surfing the Web, and goes online 16 and a half days during the month. More than 122 million Europeans over the age of 15 go online every day.   The survey was carried out by comScore to examine the online habits of people across the continent, and reveals just how pervasive online usage has become. Leading the pack for numbers online is Germany, where over 32 million people go online each month. But Brits were the most active online. At a peak almost 22 million of them were online during the day, spending over 34 hours online each month.   Favorite online destinations were tracked for the survey, with Google the most popular, followed by Microsoft and Yahoo, showing that the big three’s dominance easily extends across the Atlantic.   Internet penetration continues to grow, too. It’s highest in Holland, where over 80% of the population is online, and through Europe, only three countries (Russia, Spain, and Italy) are below 40%, with Russia lagging seriously, where only 11% of people go online.   However, although the survey offers a good snapshot of European surfing habits, comScore Europe managing director Bob Ivins noted,   “While the study reflects average net usage and penetration, 20% of users account for 60% of usage, with some people spending hundreds of hours online each month.”   He predicted that the line between on- and offline will blur as more people take to watching television on their PCs.   As a comparison with Europe, in the U.S. an average of 121 million people are online each day.