Brazil

There were 72,027,700 internet users in Brazil (representing 36.2% of the population) in December 2009, according to Internet World Stats. This was up by 1,340.6% compared to 2000. (Internet World Stats, April 2010)

31.9 million Brazilians age 15 and over accessed the internet from a home or work location in September 2009, up 22% versus the previous year, according to comScore's study of Brazilian internet usage. (comScore, November 2009)

64.6 million people will use the internet in Brazil by 2013, according to eMarketer. This would be up from 44.2 million in 2009.

Internet users in Brazil 2008-2013:
- 2008: 38.8 million
- 2009: 44.2 million
- 2010: 50.0 million
- 2011: 55.0 million
- 2012: 60.1 million
- 2013: 64.6 million
(eMarketer, May 2009)

Search Engines and Searches

Google Sites was the most popular property in Brazil in September 2009 with 26.6 million visitors, having grown 12% during the past year, according to comScore's study of Brazilian internet usage. Microsoft Sites ranked second, followed by Brazilian property UOL, Yahoo! Sites and Terra - Telefonica. Six of the top 15 ranked properties were Brazilian, the fastest growing of which was media company Grupo Abril, which grew 79% during the previous year to more than 8 million visitors in September 2009.

Top 10 online properties ranked by total Brazilian unique visitors in September 2009 (Total Brazil, Age 15+, Home & Work Locations*):
TOTAL BRAZILIAN INTERNET AUDIENCE: 31,933,000 (+22% compared to September 2008)
1. Google Sites: 26,622,000 (+12%)
2. Microsoft Sites: 25,239,000 (+11%)
3. UOL: 20,623,000 (+13%)
4. Yahoo! Sites: 17,424,000 (+25%)
5. Terra - Telefonica: 16,814,000 (+15%)
6. Organizacoes Globo: 16,678,000 (+8%)
7. Grupo Brasil Telecom: 16,573,000 (+18%)
8. Wikimedia Foundation Sites: 10,796,000 (+26%)
9. MercadoLibre: 10,200,000 (-6%)
10. WorldPress: 10,072,000 (+41%)
*Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

The top local Brazilian Internet properties were also found to be popular online destinations around the world, attracting substantial portions of their respective audiences from outside Brazil. The largest of these properties, Internet service provider and leading content portal, UOL, derived one quarter (24.7%) of its total traffic from outside Brazil, while international comparison shopping siteBuscaPe attracted 38.4% of its total traffic from audiences outside of Brazil. (comScore, November 2009) 

There were 25,600,214 active home internet users in Brazil in June 2009, according to Nielsen Online. This was up by 0.13% compared to the previous month. (ClickZ, August 2009)

Online booking among passengers using the Brazilian gateway, Sao Paulo Guarulhos, has risen almost 50% over the last twelve months, according to a global benchmark survey of leading airport hubs by SITA. Compared to last year's SITA Passenger Self Service Survey when 42.3% of passengers surveyed used online booking, this year 61.5% of survey respondents declared they had booked their flight online which means the Brazilian airport is fast catching up on the global average of 63.7% across the six airports surveyed.

The 4th annual SITA/Air Transport World Passenger Self-Service (PSS) Survey is an in-depth look at the attitudes and habits of a representative sample of the 232 million passengers who use these six leading international airports: Sao Paulo Guarulhos, Brazil; Hartsfield-Jackson, Atlanta; Mumbai International; Charles de Gaulle, Paris; Moscow Domodedovo; and OR Tambo Airport, Johannesburg. The data is extracted from interviews with 2,193 passengers conducted at the departure gates earlier this year. Passengers flying on more than 100 different airlines and representing over 80 different nationalities were interviewed during April/June 2009 in this independent survey.

The survey also found that passengers are spending more through airline web sites on ancillary services such as hotels and car hire and their numbers are expected to double.

In Sao Paulo Guarulhos, 30% of passengers use airline websites frequently or intermittently to book hotel rooms or car rental which is well above the 20% average.

While e-commerce transformation is already well underway in Brazil, the adoption of self-service channels is running behind industry trends. In fact, this year's survey shows a drop in actual usage of self-service check-in options at the time of the survey to just 11.1% compared with 25.1% the previous year. This can be partly explained by reduced passenger traffic due to external factors such as the global economic context and the H1N1 virus which encouraged people to skip kiosks and go straight to an agent due to smaller queues as 32.2% of respondents reported. (TravelDailyNews, October 2009)