The country with the largest online audience was Germany with 33.2 million unique visitors, followed closely by the U.K. with 32.2 million. Together, they represented 29% of the total European online audience. Europe’s third largest online country, France, was also its fourth fastest growing, having enjoyed a 14% gain and reaching 27.3 million unique visitors in September. Internet adoption was highest in the Netherlands, where 82% of the country’s population age 15 or older was online in September. After the Netherlands, adoption rates were highest in the Nordic region, where the Internet was accessed by 73% of the total population of Sweden, 72% of Denmark and Norway, and 66% of the Finnish population.

The Nordic region also produced some of the most active online audiences in all of Europe. On average, Internet users in Sweden viewed more pages than any other European country - 3,844 pages per visitor. The country also spent the second longest average period of time on the Internet in September at 30.1 hours per visitor. Finland’s online audience viewed the second most number of pages, averaging 3,266 pages per visitor. The U.K. Internet audience spent the most time online at an average of 33.0 hours for the month. It also viewed the highest number of pages outside of the Nordic region, averaging 3,252 pages per visitor per month, slightly ahead of the Netherlands with 3,051. Many countries in Europe are still demonstrating robust growth in Internet usage. And given the relatively low Internet penetration in several major European countries, there is plenty of upside in the European market. Russia, with only 12% of its population online, appears poised for substantial growth.