UK Consumers Champions In Internet Consumption

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Chances are you won’t find the next piece of news in the least bit surprising, if you have been following our regular updates on Britons’ online behaviour. According to a new European poll from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), British consumers top the chart when it comes to Internet adoption and the amount of time spent online.

While roughly two in three Europeans use the Internet, 81% of the UK population goes online, the poll shows. Moreover, Britons spend an average of 16.8 hours per week online, compared to two hours less for European users. According to the IAB, the number of people using the Internet in the UK has increased 11% and the time spent online has grown by 17% over the past two years.

UK consumers also appear to be ahead of their European counterparts in terms of variety of devices used to access the Internet, as more than one in five Britons (21%) go online via a tablet, compared to 8% in Europe. The gap is even wider for Internet access via games consoles, with 21% of UK and 6% of mainland European users going for this option. The IAB also finds that 59% of Britons have a smartphone, while 44% of Europeans own such a device.

Hannah Bewley, UK research manager at the IAB, comments that UK brands have the advantage of having savvy and open-minded consumers, whose interest in a seamless multi-channel experience should be taken into account.