| Article Index |
|---|
| Spain |
| Social Media & UGC |
| eCommerce |
| Online Travel Market |
| Broadband Access |
| Mobile Devices |
| All Pages |
Usage Patterns
| Total Online Population (000's) in 2012: | 30,655 |
| Percentage of Population Online in 2012: | 65.6% |
Demographics
There were 30,654,678 internet users in Spain (representing 65.6% of the population) in mid-year 2012 (June 30, 2012), according to Internet World Stats. (Internet World Stats, October 2012)
There were over 24.8 million (24,827,000) internet users in Spain in February/March 2013, representing 63.1% of the population, according to the 'Asociacion para la Investigacion de Medios de Comunicacion' - (AIMC).
In February/March 2013, the majority of internet users in the country were aged between 35 and 44. Most internet users were from the middle class (44.8%), followed by middle/high class (20.4%).
Complete details on statistics on age distribution of internet users in Spain in February/March 2013 are available below:
- Aged 14-19: 10.1% of users
- Aged 20-24: 9.4% users
- Aged 25-34: 24.1% of users
- Aged 35-44: 24.7% of users
- Aged 45-54: 15.9% of users
- Aged over 55-64: 8.7% of users
- Aged over 65: 7.1% of users
(AIMC, March 2013)
69.8% of persons aged 16 to 74 years old in Spain had used the internet in the last three months, indicating a 3.8% increase, as compared with 2011, according to the Survey on Equipment and Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Households Year 2012 by Instituto Nacional de Estadictica.
Frequent users, that is, those that access the internet daily or at least once a week, accounted for 65.0% of the population, with annual growth of 4.9%. The segment of intensive Internet users, or those who access it daily, already reached half of the population (49.9%). (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, October 2012)
24.6 million Spanish users went online in April 2012 for an average of 22.8 hours per person, according to comScore's overview of internet usage in Spain. (comScore, June 2012)
There will be 33.5 million internet users in Spain by 2016, according to eMarketer.
Internet users in Spain, 2011-2016:
- 2011: 28.9 million
- 2012: 29.8 million
- 2013: 31.1 million
- 2014: 32.2 million
- 2015: 33.0 million
- 2016: 33.5 million
(eMarketer, May 2012)
Access
- 92.4% had home internet access.
- 20.4% had access to the internet at work.
- 7.4% accessed the internet from University/school.
- 19.7% had access to the internet from other locations.
(Each internet user may have access to the internet from different locations).
(AIMC, March 2013)
The AIMC provided information on internet penetration level in the different Spanish autonomous regions (Communidades) in 2013 (April 2012 - March 2013):
- Andalucia: 58.4%
- Aragon: 63.4%
- Asturias: 57.1%
- Baleares: 68.8%
- Canarias: 60.1%
- Cantabrica: 53.0%
- Castilla/Leon: 54.7%
- Castilla/Mancha: 55.3%
- Cataluña: 68.9%
- Comunidad Valenciana: 59.7%
- Extremadura: 54.3%
- Galicia: 50.8%
- Madrid: 67.4%
- Murcia: 55.9%
- Navarra: 66.3%
- Pais Vasco: 63.6%
- La Rioja: 57.5%
(AIMC, March 2013)
67.9% of Spanish households had internet access in the year 2012, as compared with 63.9% the previous year, according to the Survey on Equipment and Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Households Year 2012 by Instituto Nacional de Estadictica.
In Spain, there were 10.5 million family dwellings with internet access, showing an increase of more than 600,000 households, as compared with 2011.
The Autonomous Communities with the highest percentages of internet access were Comunidad de Madrid (78.0%) and Illes Balears (73.9%). Moreover, País Vasco, Cataluña, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, Cantabria and Aragón recorded rates above the national average (67.9%). (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, October 2012)
Gender
53.2% of the online population in Spain in February/March 2013 was male, according to the AIMC. (AIMC, March 2013)
Digital Media
Three billion videos were viewed online in Spain in March 2011, according to comScore. Spanish online users spent 36 minutes viewing online videos, 17% more time than in January 2011. (comScore, May 2011)
Social Media and UGC
All the major social media players are in the Iberian peninsula and competition for users us fierce, according to the WTM Social Media Report - Spain (June 2012). Some of their stats for June include:
- 16,629,560 users of Facebook
- 4.7% of tweets are in Spanish
- 1.5% of Google+ users are from Spain
- 13 million tuenti users and an average number of Tuenti friends standing at 126
- 2pm is the busiest time of day on Meneame
- 190,927 people who ‘like' Iberia's Facebook page
- 2,0166,440 people who have viewed Spain.info clips on YouTube.
(WTM Vision - Research & Insight, June 2012)
Social network use increased 7% over the previous year in Spain, according to November 2011 data from IAB Spain, in October 2011. And Facebook continues to gain market share over local competitor Tuenti in both usage and marketer attention.
In February 2012, eMarketer estimated that the number of Facebook users in Spain grew nearly 50% in 2011 to 12.8 million. In 2012, the site's 14.9 million users will account for just over 85% of all social networkers and half of all internet users in the country.
According to April 2012 data from social analytics firm Socialbakers, which culls user data from the Facebook API, Facebook's audience in Spain is split evenly by gender but skews toward younger internet users: 58% are 34 or younger, while only 6% are 55 or older.
Demographic profile of Facebook users in Spain, April 2012 (% of total):
GENDER
- Male: 49%
- Female: 51%
AGE
- 13-15: 2%
- 16-17: 5%
- 18-24: 20%
- 25-34: 31%
- 35-44: 24%
- 45-54: 12%
- 55-64: 4%
- 65+: 2%
Even though users in Spain are evenly split by gender, men garnered more revenue on a per-click basis than women. According to April 2012 data from AdParlor, a Facebook ad campaign manager, in Q4 2011 cost per click for men was $0.29 while women commanded $0.21. Rates were lower than the rest of the world, which in Q4 2011 were $0.40 for men and $0.38 for women. Lower rates may have been driven by higher clickthrough rates, at 0.07% for men and 0.09% for women in Spain, compared to 0.06% and 0.07%, respectively, worldwide. In addition, advertisers may not be investing as heavily due to the overall economic malaise in the country. (eMarketer, May 2012)
65.9% of internet users in Spain will use social media by 2014, according to eMarketer.
Level of social network use in Spain, 2011-2014:
- 2011: 53.6% of internet users
- 2012: 58.7%
- 2013: 62.8%
- 2014: 65.9%
(eMarketer, May 2012)
Social network penetration increased to 75% in Spain in October 2011, a 7 percentage-point jump over 2010, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau Spain's (IAB Spain) November 2011 report "III Estudio Sobre Redes Sociales en Internet".
Facebook was the first choice for most users, followed by YouTube, Tuenti and, new to the 2011 study, Twitter. The report also found that social network users were more likely to be female and younger, with an average age of 35.
Preferred social networks according to social network users in Spain, 2009-2011 (% of respondents):
- Facebook: 69% in 2011 (up from 50% in 2009)
- YouTube: 10% (14%)
- Tuenti: 10% (24%)
- Twitter: 5% (-)
- Google+: 3% (-)
- LinkedIn: 1% (1%)
- Flickr: 1% (-)
- Badoo: 1% (0%)
- Myspace: 0% (3%)
- hi5: 0% (1%)
(eMarketer, February 2012)
Each of the top ten web properties in Spain have grown over the past year, with Facebook exhibiting the strongest growth with a 49% increase from September 2009 to September 2010, according to comScore. The most visited categories in Spain in September 2010 were Portals, which reached 99.5% of the total internet audience, Search/Navigation (92.1% reach) and Social Networking (90.1% reach).
In September 2010, more than 99% of the 23.1 million Spanish internet users age 6 and older accessed a property in the Portals category, most notably Microsoft and Yahoo! The Search/Navigation category also ranked near the top with 21.2 million users, followed by Social Networking with 20.8 million unique visitors.
Top 10 website categories in Spain ranked by unique visitors, September 2010 (Total Spanish audience, age 6+, Home & work):
Total Internet: 23,067,000 unique visitors (100.0 % reach)
1. Portals: 22,955,000 (99.5 %)
2. Search/Navigation: 21,234,000 (92.1 %)
3. Social Networking: 20,792,000 (90.1 %)
4. E-mail: 16,827,000 (72.9 %)
5. Multimedia: 16,350,000 (70.9 %)
6. Blogs: 15,040,000 (65.2 %)
7. Downloads: 13,425,000 (58.2 %)
8. Photos: 12,765,000 (55.3 %)
9. Newspapers: 12,758,000 (55.3 %)
10. Sports: 12,546,000 (54.4 %)
Spain is a growing internet market where the audience is becoming more engaged and going online with greater frequency, according to General Manager for Iberia, Jaime Agulló. One of the key drivers of this increase is the advancement of social media, with sites like Tuenti and Facebook becoming a more and more important part of Spanish Internet users' daily lives, which of course presents additional opportunities for marketers and advertisers. (comScore, October 2010)
eCommerce
The percentage of persons in Spain who made purchases online in the last three months rose 3.4 points in the last year, standing at 22.3% of the population in 2012, according to the Survey on Equipment and Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Households Year 2012 by Instituto Nacional de Estadictica.
Approximately 10.7 million persons (31.0% of the population aged 16 to 74 years old) had carried out e-commerce transactions in the last year. The relative composition of the types of products purchased in the last 12 months did not experience significant variations, as compared with the previous survey. (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, October 2012)
Mobile Shopping
Mobile shopping is growing amongst Spain's 24 million smartphone users. In the three month average ending February 2013, 10% of Spanish smartphone owners used their device to purchase goods or services at least once during the month. The figure reached 20.8% among iPhone users, and 9.4% among Android users. These mobile purchases range from clothing and accessories, to airline tickets and consumer electronics, but exclude digital content such as games or apps.
The comparison between iPhone and Android users shows that their mobile shopping behaviours differ significantly. In February 2013, Spanish iPhone users were twice as likely as Spanish Android users to shop 1-3 times during the month. Additionally, nearly 1 in 5 iPhone users in Spain made a mobile purchase at least once during the month, compared to 9.4 percent of Android users. (comScore, April 2013)
Online Travel Market
Travel Planning
13.3 million Spanish internet users visited travel websites in April 2012, reaching 54% of the internet audience in Spain during the month, according to comScore's overview of internet usage in Spain.
Priceline.com ranked as the top travel site with 2.6 million users, followed by eDreams (1.8 million users) and TripAdvisor Media Group rounded up the top three with 1.5 million users.
The study also showed that although more males than females visited travel-related websites in April 2012 (7,083,000 users), females (6,174,000 users) were more engaged than their male counterparts. (comScore, June 2012)
Compared to travellers in other large European nations, Spanish travellers have been slow to adopt online channels, according to PhoCusWright's Lookinside.travel Spanish Travelers Survey 2009 Edition. While other PhoCusWright research shows online channels experiencing a lift in market share as a result of countercyclical forces, the trend is far from a surge. The results of this study echo the sales trends - many Spanish travellers have not yet fully embraced the internet as a travel planning tool.
The lookinside.travel partner respondents, however, represent the leading segment in Spain with regard to their use of online channels in the travel purchase process. The habits of this group are likely a solid indicator of the future evolution of the marketplace as a whole.
While information and/or recommendations from friends and family are important to many lookinside.travel respondents, the majority (52%) use the internet when deciding where to go. Of the vast array of internet options, search engines are used most frequently and were cited as an influence by one third of respondents. Online travel agencies were influential for 18%, followed by destination tourism websites (13%), travel provider websites (10%) and online advertisements (7%).
The report is available for free download on the PhoCusWright website see details on the Report section. (PhoCusWright, February 2011)
The Spanish Institute of Tourism is looking to expand the image of Spain beyond a destination for the traditional "sun and beach" holiday by using social media. It has launched a campaign on leading social networks including Twitter, Youtube and Facebook under the strapline "Spain, a country to share".
While Spain remains the largest destination for UK holidaymakers in terms of the sheer volume of visitors it attracts (around 6 million a year), it has been hit by the downturn and the strength of the Euro against the pound.
The new Spanish online campaign will offer potential visitors to the country an inside view of what it has to offer by getting Spaniards to share their tips on Spain's hidden corners and best places to experience its culture and food. (HOTELMARKETING.COM, February 2010)
Travel Booking
Holiday accommodation (by 54.6% of the persons who had made purchases online) were the top category of products/service the most often purchased online in 2012 in Spain, accounting for 54.6% of persons who had made purchases online, according to the Survey on Equipment and Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Households Year 2012 by Instituto Nacional de Estadictica. Other travel services accounted for 49.7% and tickets for entertainment at 40.3%. (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, October 2012)
Despite a contracting housing market and a banking crisis, ecommerce in Spain is booming. eMarketer predicts that ecommerce will increase from $15.64 billion in 2011 to $18.57 billion in 2012, a growth of 18.8%. Robust online sales will continue to gather momentum through the forecast period, and total sales will exceed $30 billion by 2016. But Spain's ecommerce sector is immature compared to the UK, Germany and France. Online buyer penetration among internet users, estimated at 49.6% in 2012, is second to last among the EU-5. Ecommerce is expected to develop faster as payment and delivery methods and basic infrastructure improve.
As of Q3 2011, travel and related services were the number one category in ecommerce as a share of sales, at 36%, according to the Comisión del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones (CMT). (eMarketer, August 2012)
Mobile Apps were consolidated as a basic tool to compare prices, check flight status or search for itineraries in Spain in 2011, but it is expected that in 2012 mobile applications developed by airlines and online travel agencies for searching and booking flights will become just as effective as the web as a direct sales channel, according to the first Kayak Online Travel Barometer produced by the online travel metabrowser KAYAK.es, with the collaboration and support of the Spanish State Society for the Management of Innovation and Tourist Technologies (Segittur) and the Spanish low cost airline Vueling.
Smartphone users in Spain will make the step from using Mobile Apps from information to transaction depending on two key factors: the security of mobile internet shopping and the perception of trust that the users may have for each App.
The study shows that 65% of the KAYAK.es users preferred the metabrowser's mobile application to the web (31%) for checking the status of a flight. In the case of Vueling, 10% of all bookings made through the mobile application are for the same day and 15% for bookings for the next day.
The profile of the users that use a mobile App for searching and booking their flights is an independent traveller who appreciates the experiences organised on their own. In fact, 75% of the users who participated in the study said they prefer to make their travel arrangements through the internet instead of going to a travel agency. However, according to Segittur, still only 34% of the Spanish users of smartphones, access the mobile internet through an application compared to over 81% of the users that did so from a browser or directly from a URL.
According to the study, the characteristics most valued by the users with regard to a mobile application are: speed (79%), ease of use (79%) and confidence (72%). Jose Luis Martinez, Country Manager for KAYAK Spain believes that there is still some distrust when booking flights because not all suppliers and agents are ready yet, so the evolution of the industry in 2012 will depend largely on this factor. (Spanish Outbound, November 2011)
As one of the premier leisure travel destinations in Europe, Spain's economy suffered from the decline of both inbound and domestic travel amidst the global recession. The overall travel market fell 12% in 2009 according to PhoCusWright's Spanish Online Travel Overview Fifth Edition. Online travel sales, however, declined by only 1%, which is somewhat surprising for a market that remains well below the European average for online travel penetration. The decline was driven by supplier Web sites, while online travel agencies (OTAs) saw gains in bookings and market share. (PhoCusWright FYI, January 2010)
Broadband Access
Nevertheless, worth noting was the degree of implementation reached by mobile broadband connections through a handheld device (the latest generations of mobile telephones - at least 3G -, etc.), with 26.9% of dwellings having such access. This was followed by the cable or fibre optic network (17.0%), and mobile broadband connections via USB modem or card (in laptops, for example), with 10.4%. (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, October 2012)
Mobile Devices
Mobile / Smartphones
There were 22.6 million Spanish smartphone owners in November 2012, which is 64.7% of the total Spanish mobile audience, according to comScore Data Mine.
Nearly 63% of these Spanish smartphone users accessed the news and information category, making it the most popular activity in November 2012. Accessing Weather information ranked second with 35% of smartphone owners checking for forecasts on their device, followed closely by Maps, which 1 out of 3 Spanish smartphone owners made use of. Search and accessing sports information completed the top 5 rankings in Spain with 31.8% and 30.5% respectively. (comScore Data Mine, January 2013)
56.0% of internet users in Spain in the last three months had used some kind of mobile device to access the internet outside of the regular dwelling or workplace during that period. This figure accounted for 39.0% of the population.
The most commonly used devices were the so-called handheld devices (mobile phones, PDAs, mp3/mp4 players, e-books, etc.) mentioned, as a whole, by 45.1% of Internet users. Laptop computers (including tablets) were indicated by 35.4% of internet users.
Wireless connections (basically WiFi) were the most frequently used for mobile access as a whole (used by 44.0% of users), whereas mobile telephony was mentioned by 39.8% of Internet users.
Among the internet services used with a handheld device for specific reasons in the last three months, worth noting were: receiving/sending emails (79.4%), participating in social networks (68.4%), reading or downloading news, newspapers or current affairs magazines online (62.3%). 55.1% had used some GPS-based Internet application in order to obtain information on the place they were located.
Among the Internet users who did not access the Internet using mobile devices, the reason most frequently given was because they did not need internet access outside of their home or workplace (80.6%). Following this was the high cost of the device and/or the internet subscription (17.8%). (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, October 2012)
44.5% of mobile subscribers in Spain used a smartphone in the 3 month average ending August 2011, according to comScore.
Mobile Use in Spain, 3 Month Average Ending August 2011:
- Sent Text Message: 79.3%
- Used Application (excl. pre-installed): 33.6%
- Used Browser: 33.0%
- Listened to Music: 32.1%
- Accessed Social Networking Site or Blog: 21.6%
- Accessed News: 14.9%
- Played Games: 27.6%
- Used Smartphone: 44.5%
(comScore, October 2011)
39.2% of mobile consumers in Spain now have smartphones, according to a Q1 2011 survey by Nielsen. Nokia's Symbian operating system remains the most popular with 65% market share, despite a 9 point decline since Q4 2010. Apple's iOS (iPhone) and Google's Android operating systems are both tied at 9%, though Android seems to be growing its share more quickly, with a 7 point gain since the last quarter compared to the 3 percentage point increase seen by iOS.
41% of Spain's smartphone users and 10% of feature phone users access the mobile internet with their phones. Among those who accessed the mobile web in the past 30 days, 44% engaged with social networking/online communities and 33% accessed city guides or maps. (These were the two leading categories, though music, weather, entertainment, games, sports, and search, were all very close behind.)
Other findings of the survey include:
- 80% of smartphone users and 79% of feature phone users send and receive text messages on their phones
- 29% of Spain's smartphone users and 6% of feature phone users use email on their mobile phones
- 40% of smartphone users and 34% of feature phone users play games on their cellphones
- Nearly 80% of mobile media in Spain expect to see more mobile ads in the future
(Nielsen, June 2011)
Only 3.7% of the Spanish population has browsed the internet on their mobile phone but those consumers who have done so are spending 30% more than the average Spanish mobile user. And of the operators vying for that business in Spain, Vodafone is leading the pack. The findings come from data supplied exclusively to telecoms.com from Kantar Worldpanel's ComTech survey.
The latest data shows that Vodafone has the highest percentage of customers using the most advanced services, consistently above the average, 7% of the firm's Spanish customers have used their phones for internet browsing and downloading and sending picture, 8 % have used it to play games, while 11% have used their phone to make videos. Music has proven the most popular service among the carrier's customers, with 15% of them using their phone to listen to music. (Telecoms.com, June 2010)
iPad and other tablets
There will be 9.3 million tablet users in Spain in 2013, eMarketer forecasts and the number will reach 15.4 million by 2016.
Tablet users in Spain, 2010-2016:
- 2010: 1.4 million
- 2011: 2.9 million
- 2012: 6.0 million
- 2013: 9.3 million
- 2014: 11.9 million
- 2015: 13.9 million
- 2016: 15.4 million
(eMarketer, March 2013)
Travel apps are more popular on tablets than smartphones in Spain
Since 2011, tablet ownership in Spain has nearly tripled, to reach 23% of adult internet users in June 2012, according to a joint study from the Interactive Advertising Bureau Spain (IAB Spain), Google, The Cocktail Analysis and La Catedral Online de las Nuevas Tecnologias.
And while lower-cost devices have probably helped tablet uptake in the country, the IAB Spain nonetheless reported that Apple retained 40% market share in the country.
Consumer electronics owned by internet users in Spain, June 2012 (% of respondents):
- Mobile phone: 100%
- Laptop: 86%
- PC: 77%
- Game console: 61%
- Tablet: 23%
- Ereader: 23%
- Connected TV: 18%
As ownership of tablets and other mobile connected devices like smartphones increases in Spain, mobile internet use has been driven up. The IAB Spain estimated particularly high mobile internet access, at 82% this year among internet users between the ages of 18 to 55.
The IAB Spain survey dug deeper into the preferred activities among tablet users on the rich media, smaller-screen devices and found that social networking ranked as the No. 2 daily content activity, after email. Reading online news came in just behind networking. Socially and digitally integrated TV content on tablets is not yet especially popular in the country. While a devoted 15% of respondents reported interacting with TV or radio programs daily on the devices, 37% reported never doing so.
However, in terms of apps, TV and radio are much more popular on tablets than smartphones. Sixty-percent of tablet users surveyed reported having one of these apps installed on their tablet vs. 29% of smartphone users. And, in keeping with tablets as detail-rich devices, travel apps were also 18 percentage points more popular on tablets than smartphones. (eMarketer, November 2012)
Last Updated on Friday, 31 May 2013 09:33
