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Usage Patterns
| Total Online Population (000's) in 2009 | 43,100 |
| Percentage of Population Online in 2009 | 69.3% |
Demographics
There were 43,100,134 internet users in France (representing 69.3% of the population) in September 2009, according to Internet World Stats. This was up by 407.1% compared to 2000. (Internet World Stats, November 2009)
34.7 million people aged eleven and older connected to the internet in France during December 2009, according to Médiamétrie//NetRatings. This represented 65% of the population and a 4% increase compared to December 2008. (Médiamétrie, January 2010)
There were 32.6 million internet users aged 15 years and older in France in the last 30 days, according to Ipsos Profiling 2009. It accounted for 64% of the population and more than 1 million more than the previous year. The increase in the number of online users in the country continues to be attributed to the democratization of broadband (with 94% of home internet users having broadband). (Ipsos, October 2009)
40.8 million people will use the internet in France by 2013, according to eMarketer. This would be up from 37 million in 2009.
Internet users in France 2008-2013:
- 2008: 35.2 million
- 2009: 37.0 million
- 2010: 38.2 million
- 2011: 39.1 million
- 2012: 40.0 million
- 2013: 40.8 million
(eMarketer, May 2009)
While some countries have seen the rate of growth in internet use tail off, the number of Internet users in France is still climbing steadily. Nielsen Online estimated that the digital media universe in France grew 15% between January and November 2008, from 34.85 million to 40.13 million people.
The sixth edition of the "Mediascope Europe" report by the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA) noted that Internet users in France are more likely than other Europeans to be online every day. Two-thirds (67%) of respondents in France told the EIAA that they used the Web daily, compared with the European average of 55%. Moreover, 29% of internet users in the country said they were online more than 16 hours each week.
A recent online poll by TNS Global also pointed out the vital role the Web now plays in French life. TNS quizzed more than 27,500 adults ages 18 to 55, in 16 countries, for its "Digital World, Digital Life" report. Nine countries in Europe (including France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK) and several in Asia (China, Japan, South Korea) were surveyed, along with the US, Australia and Canada. Internet users in France spent 28% of their leisure time online, according to the study-the same proportion as in the UK and Canada. The US posted a slightly higher average (30%), while Web users in China took the trophy, with an astonishing 44% of leisure time going to the Internet.
A degree of Internet dependence is also taking hold in France, said TNS. Survey respondents were asked to rate, on a scale from 1 to 10, how much it would affect their personal lives if their Web access failed. The average impact score in France was 6.9-the highest registered in any European country.
After a relatively slow start, the French e-commerce market is taking off in a big way too. In 2008, Germany posted the highest proportion of online buyers in Europe, with 73%, but TNS found that France was above the average, with 58% of respondents buying goods or services online. (eMarketer, February 2009)
Search Engine and Searches
In May 2008, Google Sites increased its lead as the most popular search property in France to 82% of all searches. Following the introduction of its French language interface at the beginning of March, Facebook.com has increased its share of search in France, breaking into the top 10 in April and reaching a 0.8% market share in May.
1. Google Sites: 82.0%
2. Groupe Pages Jaunes: 2.7%
3. Microsoft Sites: 2.4%
4. eBay: 2.2%
5. Yahoo! Sites: 2.1%
6. Groupe Spir Communication: 1.6%
7. Skyrock Network: 1.5%
8. Orange Sites: 1.4%
9. AOL LLC: 1.0%
10. FACEBOOK.COM: 0.8%
Digital Media
35% of French internet users claim to have viewed a video online in the last 30 days, according to Ipsos Profiling 2009. This activity is among the top 10 online activities in the country. Users viewing online videos are more likely to be young (36% are under 25, vs 23% of total internet users in the country) and to go online more often than the average (63% go online several time a day, vs 52%). (Ipsos, October 2009)
27.1 million French internet users viewed a video online in January 2009, up 16% versus the previous year, according to comScore.
Driven by the popularity of YouTube.com (which accounted for 97% of all videos viewed), Google Sites grew 25% versus a year ago to further solidify its position as the leading online video viewing property in France, attracting 15.2 million viewers in January 2009. French video site Dailymotion.com ranked second with 11.5 million viewers, up 14% versus year ago, followed by Microsoft Sites (5 million viewers), Groupe TF1 (4.8 million viewers) and Orange Sites (4.4 million viewers). Each of the top ten online video properties achieved positive growth during the past year, with four out of ten more than doubling their video-viewing audience.
Top French online video properties ranked by total unique viewers, January 2009 (Total France - age 15+, home & work locations):
- Total internet: total audience: 27,074,000 (+ 16% compared to January 2008)
- Google Sites: 15,166,000 (+25%)
- Dailymotion.com: 11,478,000 (+14%)
- Microsoft Sites: 4,972,000 (+19%)
- Groupe TF1: 4,795,000 (+13%)
- Orange Sites: 4,370,000 (+204%)
- France Televisions Interactive : 3,378,000 (+228%)
- AOL LLC : 3,320,000 (+105%)
- AlloCine Sites : 2,680,000 (+18%)
- Kewego : 2,591,000 (+24%)
- Megavideo.com: 2,362,000 (+213%)
The 27.1 million online video viewers in France watched a total of 2.5 billion videos in January, an average of 92.9 videos per viewer, or approximately three videos per day. Google Sites led the pack with 31% of all videos viewed, followed by Dailymotion.com (9.8%) Megavideo.com (2.8%) and AOL LLC (2.7%).
Other notable findings from January 2009 include:
- 78.4% of the total French Internet audience viewed online video.
- The total French online video viewing audience watched a combined 180 million hours of video content.
- 14.9 million viewers watched 756 million videos on YouTube.com (51 videos per viewer).
- The average online video duration was 4.3 minutes.
- Based on a three-month average ending January 2009, 3.9 million mobile phone subscribers, of which 39% were younger than 25 years of age, used their phone to watch any kind of TV or video in France.
(comScore, March 2009)
Last Updated on Wednesday, 24 February 2010 13:50
