France

Usage Patterns

Total Online Population (000's) in 2012	50,290
Percentage of Population Online in 2012	77.2%

Demographics

There were 50,290,226 internet users in France (representing 77.2% of the population) in mid-year 2012 (June 30, 2012), according to Internet World Stats. (Internet World Stats, October 2012)

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There were over 40 million internet users in France in August 2012 connecting via fixed internet access, according to Médiamétrie.

The under 25 years old group accounts for 28% of the total audience in August 2012 and they account for 21.,7% of total time spent online. Those aged 35-49 years old spent the most time online (a third of all time spent online). (Mediametrie, October 2012)

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There will be 43.8 million internet users in France by 2016, according to eMarketer.

Internet users in France, 2011-2016:
- 2011: 39.8 million
- 2012: 40.6 million
- 2013: 41.1 million
- 2014: 42.3 million
- 2015: 43.1 million
- 2016: 43.8 million

(eMarketer, May 2012)

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Of Europe's 372 million unique visitors, France accounted for 42.4 million unique visitors during August 2011, according to comScore. Users in France spent an average of 24.7 hours online in the past month, consuming 2,484 pages online. (comScore, October 2011)

Age

More than 30% of internet users in France were 50 years old or older in the second quarter of 2011, according to Médiamétrie's Observatoire des Usages Internet. The recent increase in the number of seniors online is mainly attributed to those aged 65 or older. (Médiamétrie, August 2011)

Search Engine and Searches

9 out of 10 visits to websites initiated from search engines came from Google (90.6%) in March 2010 in France, according to Médiamétrie-eStat. Bing arrived in 2^nd position, accounting for 3.3% of visits ; followed by Yahoo! (1.6%) and Orange (1.1%).

In the last 6 months (since September 2009), Bing has enjoyed the most increase, winning 0.8% of market share.  (Classement CybereStat - March 2010 - Médiamétrie-eStat, April 2010)

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29 million internet users in France conducted searches on search engines in February 2010, according to Médiamétrie. They conducted on average 76 searches each. (Médiamétrie, March 2010)

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Google France was the most visited website in France during the week ending 30/01/10, picking up 10.38% of all French internet visits - equivalent to 1 in every 10, according to Hitwise. Two other Google-owned properties also appeared in the list of the 10 most visited websites in France during the same week: YouTube at number 4 and Google.com at number 7.

Top 10 websites in France, ranked by market share of French internet visits, week ending 30/01/10:
1. Google France (10.38%)
2. Facebook (6.83%)
3. Windows Live Mail (3.20%)
4. YouTube (2.37%)
5. Orange France Webmail (1.96%)
6. Orange France (1.88%)
7. Google (1.73%)
8. Sykrock (1.43%)
9. Leboncoin.fr (1.26%)
10. MSN France (1.01%)

Facebook is the second most visited website in France, accounting for 6.83% of all French Internet visits during the week ending 30/01/10. The site accounted for just under half of all French visits to social networks over the same period, picking up over twice as many visits as second placed YouTube.

Search Engines are the most visited category of website in France, accounting for 14.27% of all French internet visits during the week ending 30/01/10. Social networks and Forums rank second, picking up 12.85% of French internet visits - more than the 10.61% the industry accounts for in the UK. Shopping and Classifieds websites, on the other hand, account for a higher percentage of Internet visits in the UK (8.74%) than in France (8.44%).

France and the UK have very similar sized internet populations, so it is interesting to compare the different ways in which the web is used in the two countries. In France, more online time is spent on communication and entertainment than in the UK, with Entertainment websites and Webmail services also picking up a higher proportion of visits. On the other hand, people in the UK are more likely to use the internet to make transactions and look for information. News and Media, Sports, Travel, and Education websites all account for a higher proportion of Internet visits in the UK than in France. (Hitwise United Kingdom Newsletter - February 2010)