Germany, the UK, France, Spain, Poland and Turkey have all been named among the top 15 ‘big’ global internet markets by a new study from research legend Mary Meeker.
The influential analyst has released her annual ‘Internet Trends’ report which, based on data from various sources gathered by Meeker, shows many European nations outperforming the likes of Iran and South Korea in terms of web users.
The internet league
According to Meeker and her team of researchers, China remains way out on top with 618 million web users as of December 2013, although this only signals a penetration rate of 46% when considering its population of 1.3 billion.
The US placed second with 263 million web users, indicating a penetration rate of 83% among its 316 million residents, but - as the table the clarify – the rest of the 15 places were dominated by European nations.
Russia managed fifth with a connected population of 100 million, behind Japan in third and Brazil in fourth, with Germany, the UK and France following swiftly behind.
Turkey managed a finish of 11th, with Italy, Spain and Poland also claiming spots in the top 15.
The UK actually achieved one of the highest penetration rates in the entire table, of 87%, with Germany’s proportion of 84% and France’s 83% also earning mentions from Meeker.
Bigger picture
Overall, the report stated that the number of web users around the world had increased by 10% between 2012 and 2013, but its was the growth in global mobile usage that stole most of the limelight.
The number of new smartphone users may be slowing, but user figures still grew by 20% year on year in 2013.
Ad spend on smartphones and tablets rose by 47% over the same period but mobile app revenue continued to rise above earnings from these placements.