Strong take-up of digital media consumption by Europe’s elite.

22-11-2008

The base of the online study were those affluent, belonging to the Top 13% income group, who use the internet at least 1 hour per week. The size of this population varies from around 80% of the affluent population in South and Central Europe to practically a 100% of the affluent population in Denmark and Norway (see map). The total size of Europe’s Digital elite is 39 million.

9 out of 10 have access to the 3 screens 

By now, almost all have access to the 3 screens of TV, PC and mobile devices: 90% of Europeans have access to all 3 types of screens, and it differs from 84% in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, up to 95% in Italy (see graph below). Although ownership of devices is on a high level in every part of Europe, there are differences in popularity of types of mobile devices. While blackberries and iPod videos are most popular in UK and Ireland (owned by 11% and 19%), smartphones are most popular in the Nordic countries (13%), and ownership of PSPs is highest in Portugal and Spain (19%). iPods and other MP3 players have a high penetration everywhere in Europe. In every region around one third of the affluents own such a device.

A standard TV set can still be found in the majority of households, especially in South and East Europe. In the Nordic countries and UK and Ireland the levels of ownership of widescreen TVs (almost 50%) and LCD/plasma TVs (about 40%) are highest. Those regions are top ranking in ownership of HDTVs as well (ca. 30%). About one fifth of the European affluent elite own a recent type of game console (PS3, Wii or Xbox 360), and another fifth owns an older type of game console. Game consoles are found to be popular in every region except East Europe.
UK & Ireland, Central Europe and France are regions with very high penetration of desktop PCs (ca. 85%). The level of ownership of laptops is around 70% in all regions, except Central Europe. Ultra Mobile PCs, or netbooks as they are more often called nowadays, are owned by only 2% of Europeans. 

2 hours and 40 minutes per day spent on the Internet 

Next to the high levels of access to digital devices, we find a large proportion of daily media consumption spent on using the internet. The average European affluent individual spends 2 hours and 40 minutes a day on using the internet, including email and chat. Another 1 hour and 38 minutes is spent on watching TV, and 1 hour and 37 minutes is used for listening to the radio. Reading newspapers and magazines takes another 55 minutes on an average day. Altogether, almost 7 hours are spent on the consumption of media on an average day.
Within Europe´s Digital elite, the Spanish and Portuguese are the heaviest Internet users, with an average of over 3 hours a day spent on the Internet. The consumption of newspapers and magazines varies from 47 minutes a day in the UK & Ireland to just over 1 hour in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, as well as in the Nordic countries. TV consumption does not vary by region within the Digital elite universe. In all regions, around 1 hour and 40 minutes is spent on watching TV on an average day. The British and Irish rank highest with 1 hour and 52 hours spent on watching TV.

Small regional differences in the consumption of types of media 

News/Business TV programmes, Movies and Documentaries are the kind of TV programmes which have the highest amount of regular viewers within all regions of Europe, without any exception. In most regions, sports TV programmes are in a good 4th position. UK & Ireland stand out with a relatively high proportion of regular viewers of Soaps and comedies. France is unique in its high proportion of regular Talk show viewers.
Paid for newspapers have the highest proportions of regular readers in all regions, except for UK & Ireland and France, where weekly newspapers rank highest. The highest amount of readers of free dailies can be found in Portugal & Spain, as well as in The Netherlands & Belgium. News and Business magazines have a substantial amount of regular readers in every region. High proportions of regular gossip magazine readers within the Digital elite universe can only be found in Central Europe.
The regions of Europe do not differ that much from each either, in the types of websites which have the highest proportion of regular visitors. News sites and travel & tourism sites rank highest in all regions, with sports sites ranking 3rd in most cases. Belgium and the Netherlands show a relatively high proportion of regular visitors of Business and Finance sites. Central Europe stands out in the proportion of regular visitors of websites for Education.
In practically all countries, over 50% of the Digital elite listen to Rock music and 60s, 70s or 80s Pop classics on a regular basis. Italy is the only part of Europe with another kind of music on the 1st position. Two thirds of Italians are regular consumers of easy listening music. Especially the Spanish and Portuguese very much prefer music in their own language. Jazz & Blues as well as Classical music is most popular in France. The highest proportion of listeners of Dance/Trance music can be found in Central Europe. R&B and Soul is most popular in Belgium & the Netherlands. Country & Folk and Hard Rock & Heavy Metal are most popular in the Nordic countries, while Alternative/Indie music is most popular in the UK & Ireland. 

Regional diversity in popularity of digital features 

For each kind of digital feature we asked about in the EMS Digital Life survey, we found another region which has taken the lead by being active users. The highest proportion of active users of weblogs can be found in Portugal and Spain (39%). UK & Ireland are top ranking in the use of podcast s (30%). The biggest proportion of active users of RSS feeds can be found in France, with 19%. Wikis are used by more than 50% of the Austrian, German and Swiss Digital elite as well as more than half of the Portuguese and Spanish elite. Central Europe is highest ranking in the use of social networking sites (30%).

1 out of 6 is a frequent user of Social networking sites

One out of 6 of the European Digital elite has updated a profile on a social networking site in the past 30 days. In the UK & Ireland this proportion is almost 1 out of 4. The social networking sites with the biggest amount of users are Windows Live Spaces (4.9 million users in the past 30 days), Facebook (3.4 million users), Myspace (2.9 million users) and LinkedIn (2.4 million users). Those 4 sites have a profile of users originating from every part of Europe. Next to those big ones, there are several smaller social networking sites with a strong focus on specific regions: XING with a lot of Austrians, Germans and Swiss, Hi5 with a lot of Spanish and Portuguese, Hyves for the Dutch and Viadeo for the French.


Online shopping is popular throughout Western Europe

The British are slightly ahead in the use of the internet for buying a wide variety of products and services. Almost 60% of them have bought airline tickets via the internet in the last 6 months, and almost the same proportion has booked hotels via the internet as well. Online shopping is almost as popular in all other parts of Europe, except Central Europe.

EMS Digital Life 2008, Regional differences in graphs (part 1).

Arjan Zwart.

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