One third of consumers use music streaming services

"Here are some of the key findings from the report (which of course, along with all of the opinions and interpretations are my own and are not, necessarily, EMI’s)
Streaming has a firm foothold. 32% of consumers across the globe are now using streaming services.  However, adoption is far from uniform.
Nordics lead the way. Norway and Sweden (the home of Spotify) are respectively the 1st and 3rd most active streaming markets globally.  Key to this trend is the relative sophistication of Internet users in these markets.  48% of Norwegians are now streaming music users, as are 43% of Swedes.
Streaming is a good fit for piracy riddled Spain.  Spain is the 2nd most active market with 44% streaming penetration.  But whereas consumer sophistication was key to Nordic adoption, in Spain piracy and the legacy of free were the most important drivers.
Free is a good fit for France too. The role of piracy and free have also been important in France.  French authorities have pushed through the controversial Hadopi legislation but the carrot of Spotify and local streaming success Deezer has delivered immediate results.  Translating streaming usage into purchases though is less successful: just 13%.
Purchase conversion rates are higher in lower penetration markets. The US, Canada, UK, Germany and Denmark have lower streaming penetration but these markets have much higher streaming-to-paid downloads conversion rates, averaging 23% of streaming users.
Streaming Drives Music Discovery and Consumption. Although it is still too early to draw definitive conclusions about exactly how much streaming impacts piracy and sales, the case for driving discovery and consumption is much clearer.  55% of global streaming music users state that they now discover new artists and new music as a result of streaming.
Usage is steady among existing users. Usage among existing streaming users is broadly steady with 19% using streaming more than 12 months previously and 20% more."

Source:  Analysis by Mark Mulligan, reported in his Music Industry Blog, 9th July 2012

Methodology:  "This July EMI’s Insight division launched an unprecedented initiative to share data from their 850,000 interview Global Consumer Insight data.  This dataset covers 25 countries and over 7,400 artists, with twelve people being interviewed at any given moment, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week."

Internet users & usage in Europe, May 2012

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Source:  Press release from comScore, 2nd July 2012

51% of European internet users say that helps them choose better products and services

"The internet has become an essential way for brands to communicate and engage with consumers:
51% say the internet helps them choose better products/services
47% are inclined to find out more about products they see advertised online
46% of internet users say they often visit the website of their favourite brands
41% of European internet users agree that the way a brand communicates online is important
30% of internet users are more likely to buy a product of a brand they follow on a social networking site.
96% of European internet users research online for purchases, 87% shop online and almost one fifth (19%) of all their shopping is done via the internet. In a six month period Europeans spent €188 billion buying goods and services online – an average of €544 per European online shopper. Norwegian internet shoppers averaged the highest spend online (€1,162) followed by Swiss (€919) and Danish (€894) online shoppers. UK internet users devote the greatest share of total shopping spend to online (32.0%) followed by German (25.4%)."

48% of Europeans use the internet while they watch TV

"What stands out in this research is how much of this ‘traditional’ media is now being consumed online.
91% of internet users read news online (388.5m) - men are more likely to be consumers of news online than women (93% vs. 89%) and 35-54 year olds are the most likely to read news online - at 93%
73% of internet users watch TV online (311.6m) - 16-24 year olds are the most likely to watch TV online - at 83% - closely followed by 35-44 year olds (81%)
67% of internet users listen to the radio online (286.0m) – this increases to 81% of 16-24s and men are more likely than women to listen to the radio online (68% vs. 66%)
The research shows that a staggering 48% of Europeans say they use the internet whilst they watch TV (297.4m) and 16% of all time spent watching TV in Europe is done whilst using the internet. Europe’s heaviest online/TV multi-taskers are the Norwegians at 70%, followed by 68% of TV watchers in France and 62% of those watching TV in the UK. The good news for advertisers is that one third (33%) of all TV and online multi-taskers say the online activity they’re doing is likely to be related to the TV programme they’re watching so there is a significant opportunity for brands to engage the consumer via both platforms.
Alison Fennah, Vice President of Research and Marketing for IAB Europe comments, “It’s no longer appropriate or sensible to think of ‘using the internet’ as a specific and isolated activity. The ever-wider variety of devices that people use to access online content and the degree to which they do this while using other media shows the deep level of engagement consumers have with the internet today. For instance, many Europeans are clearly using the web and watching TV simultaneously, and a third of those are actually consuming complementary content. Those companies that understand and adapt to these changing consumption patterns will be the ones that succeed in the future.” "

Source:  Press release from IAB Europe, 6th June 2012

Methodology:  "Conducted using a combination of online, telephone and face-to-face methodologies totalling over 50,000 interviews across 28 markets Mediascope Europe now ranks as one of the leading sources of data on European consumer use of media and online shopping habits." 

139m Europeans access the internet using mobile phones each week

"426.9 million Europeans go online every week (65%) with than one third (37%) accessing the internet using more than one device. 64% of people access the web via a computer – that’s 415.7 million people – and 21% use the internet on their mobile phone (139.2m). Using the internet via a computer is most popular in Norway and Switzerland (89%) and users are most likely to be aged between 25-44 years old (44%). Mobile internet users are most likely to be 16-24 years old (30%) and using the internet via a mobile phone is most popular in the UK, Norway and Sweden where more than 4 in 10 access the internet via this device.
Time spent on the web differs by the device used – European’s spend a total of 14.8 hours online each week – those using a computer spend 13.3 hours, compared to 9.4 hours amongst those using mobile phones and 9.3 hours for those using tablets. The figure is 6.8 hours via games console."

Source:  Press release from IAB Europe, 6th June 2012
Methodology:  "Conducted using a combination of online, telephone and face-to-face methodologies totalling over 50,000 interviews across 28 markets Mediascope Europe now ranks as one of the leading sources of data on European consumer use of media and online shopping habits."

Online ad spend across Europe was nearly €21bn in 2011

"Despite the continued weak macroeconomic conditions across Europe and globally, Europe’s online advertising market grew 14.5% year-on-year to a market value of €20.9bn in 2011. By comparison the overall European advertising market - excluding online - grew at just 0.8% in the same time period.
IAB Europe’s annual AdEx Benchmark survey is the definitive guide to the state of the European online advertising market. Released today at IAB Europe’s Interact conference in Barcelona, it shows that 1 in 5 advertising Euros in Europe is now spent online.
Individual market growth ranged from 55.5% in Russia and 46% in Serbia, to 5.5% in Norway and 4.6% in Romania. Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) markets increased their share of the total from 10.1% in 2010 to 11.8% last year. Russia is now the sixth biggest market with a value of €1.12bn, buoyed particularly by a surging search market. Together the top five markets (UK, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands) account for almost 67.9% of the total online advertising market, down slightly from 69.2% in 2010.
Head of Advertising Research at IHS Screen Digest and author of the research, Daniel Knapp explains, “Advertising markets are in general very susceptible to changes in the macroeconomic environment – in other words, in an economy where we have the European sovereign debt crisis, high unemployment and cutbacks in consumer spending, we would expect advertising spend to suffer disproportionately as it did on most media in 2011. However, online enjoys a number of unique attributes that have protected it from this effect.
Firstly, it’s a question of formats – advertisers increasingly recognise online as a branding medium; video commands a significant and growing share of spend, and search continues to deliver sound and measurable results. Secondly, the explosion of ‘big data’ has delivered enhanced targeting capabilities, improving monetisation of publishers’ inventory. Thirdly, there is a long term trend for advertisers to shift ad budgets from mature to emerging markets, which is fuelling their online economy. An expanding broadband infrastructure adds to the attractiveness of those markets."
A question of formats
The ROI-centric search format enjoyed the highest growth rate of 17.9% in 2011. However newer formats including video and mobile helped lift the value of Display ad spend, coming a close second at 15.3%.
Video now accounts for 8.2% of online Display
Video’s ability to convey brand messages in a narrative makes it attractive to the big spend advertisers who have a strong legacy in telling stories through TV, the classic branding medium since the age of ‘Mad Men’. AdEx Benchmark 2011 includes online video advertising figures for 14 markets, where video represents 8.2% of the total online Display market value. It ranges from its highest at 9.8% in Sweden but it is also gaining traction in CEE markets as 5.8% in Poland indicates. In Germany and the UK video has already crossed the €100m threshold. In the UK the market is worth €126m; in Germany €117m.
Mobile average growth rates of 45%
While mobile advertising is still a nascent format with mobile display spend contributing 1-3% of online Display ad spend, it is growing rapidly. The nine markets that reported mobile Display advertising for both 2010 and 2011 recorded an average growth rate of 45.6%.
Search experienced strongest growth rates in CEE
Paid-search continued to grow double-digit at 17.9% in 2011 and as such it remains the biggest format in online advertising. Search accounts for 46.5% of total online advertising spend compared with 33.6% for Display and 19.2% for Classifieds and Directories. In 2011 it was the CEE region that really drove the growth of Search, with Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Russia and Slovenia all experiencing significant increases in spend. What the figures alone conceal is the innovation in search – from video to location-based services, data-driven planning to cross-media campaigns with TV in particular, it is the continued creativity of the online advertising industry that allows for search to shine."

Source:  Press release from IAB Europe, 30th May 2012

Internet users & usage in Europe, September 2011

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Source:  Press release from comScore, 14th November 2011

19% of iPhones in Sweden have Spotify installed

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Source:  Blog post by Onavo, 12th August 2011

Internet Users & time spent by market in Europe, May 2011

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Source:  Press release from comScore Media Metrix, 6th July 2011

Internet users & time spent by market in Europe, March 2011

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Source:  Press release from comScore Media Metrix, 4th May 2011

The UK, Germany and France collectively account for 70% of all eCommerce spending in Europe

"UK consumers also topped the online retail spending tables in 2009 with an average annual spend of £1,102, compared to a European average of £774 on 20 items with an average cost per item of £39. The UK was followed by Denmark (£1,079) and Norway (£979). On average UK consumers purchased the greatest number of items in 2009 (37), whereas the Polish bought the least (10).
At £44, the average cost per item in France was 48% higher than in the UK, which at £30 was the lowest in Europe. Norway had the highest spend per item at £75.
The research also found that:
25% of UK shoppers are now prepared to spend £1,000 or more online in a single transaction
57% of UK consumers made online purchases — almost 20% higher than the European average of 38%
Poland, with a forecast growth rate of 36%, France (31%) and Spain (25%) will experience the fastest growth this year. As the most mature ecommerce market, the UK will grow the least (12.4%) to £42.7bn.
European online sales will grow by 20% to reach £153bn overall in 2010, accounting for 5.5% of overall European retail sales.
The UK, Germany (£29.7bn of sales in 2009) and France (£22bn) account for 70% of total online sales in Europe. The countries with the lowest overall online spend in 2009 were Poland (£2.2bn), Finland (£2.3bn) and Norway (£2.9bn).
The rankings of the ‘big online three’ (UK, Germany and France) have not changed since 2003, although during this period online sales in France have grown by 244%, compared to 171% in the UK and 183% in Germany"
Source: Research from the Centre for Retail Research, commissioned by Kelkoo, and reported by Internet Retailing, 2nd February 2010

Facebook is now the largest social network in 9 of the top 12 European countries

comScore data for February 2009 shows that Facebook is the largest social network in 9 of the top 12 European markets as measured by unique visitors - UK, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Denmark & Finland. In Austria Netlog is larger (but Facebook is only 25,000 visitors behind), in Germany StudiVz (including SchuelerVz) is larger, and in the Netherlands Hyves is lager. Facebook is 2nd in all of these markets apart from Germany, where it is fourth behind StudiVz sites, wer-kennt-wen, and MySpace.
Source: comScore MediaMetrix February 2009 data, analysed by Isobar

Online advertising accounts for more than 10% of all ad spend in 7 European markets

"Online advertising accounted for at least 10 percent of overall advertising spending in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and the UK, the report said.
Norwegian Internet users were the most expensive to target, with advertisers spending 133.20 euros per consumer reached, compared with the European average of 80.60 euros. In the United States, the average was 91.90 euros per person.
The sectors investing most in online advertising were entertainment and leisure, telecoms, and finance and insurance."
Source: Reuters, 2nd June 2008, citing data from the IAB/PWC