comScore, Inc. released an overview of internet usage in Europe during June 2012, showing that 397.2 million Europeans went online for an average of 25.9 hours. The June report, which includes internet usage in 49 European markets aggregated into the European region and individual reporting on 18 markets, also highlights that web-based email is still popular among European internet users. Nearly 70 percent of the European internet audience accessed Email sites during the month, displaying a growth rate of 3.7 percentage points over the past year. UK and Spain ranked first for penetration, with web-based Email reaching 82.7 percent and 79.2 percent of their respective internet audiences.

Web-Based Email Sees Growth Across European Countries

In Europe, 276.5 million people accessed sites like Hotmail and Google Gmail via their computer, equalling to a 69.5 percent reach among the internet audience above 15 years of age. The number of European web-based email users grew by 14 percent over the past year to 276 million, while total penetration increases by 3.7 percentage points.

The UK had the highest market penetration of web-based email usage at 82.7 percent with the total number of users increasing 9 percent versus last year. Among the top 10 email markets in Europe, Ireland had the fastest growing audience (up 23 percent), followed by Russia (up 21 percent).



Hotmail Reigns Among Web-based Email Sites

Microsoft’s Hotmail, recently renamed Outlook.com, ranked as the top web-based email provider in Europe with 108.2 million visitors (up 1 percent vs. year ago) for an average of 1.9 hours per user during the month. Google’s Gmail ranked second in the Email category with 74.7 million users but saw a much stronger growth rate of 18 percent over the past year. Yahoo! Mail came in third with 44.3 million users, and was the most engaging email portal among the top 5 (2.1 hours per user). Russian providers Mail.ru Mail and Yandex Mail rounded up the top five attracting 42.3 million and 25.1 million users respectively, and experienced the strongest audience growth rates among the top 5 European web-based email sites.



European Internet Usage by Country

Below is a snapshot of European internet usage in the 18 reportable markets for which comScore provides individual reporting. The Russian internet audience continued to be the largest online market in Europe with 58.8 million users going online in June. The UK audience was by far the most engaged market across Europe, with an average user spending 37.9 hours online.