Internet Quarterly - UK

Published by: Mintel International Group Ltd.

Published: Sep. 1, 2008 - 129 Pages

Table of Contents

Issues in the Market

Focus on youth internet habits

Research methodology

Definitions

Abbreviations

Market in Brief

Broadband driven by young men in London and the South

Smartphone usage grows amongst innovators

Convergence all the rage amongst devices

Search becoming less enlightening

Downloading a threat to both music and gaming

Browsing and buying levels holding up well

Amount spent online healthy - except for travel

Youths spending a lot of time online

iPlayer and YouTube look to dominate in early days of online video

Internet Penetration

Key points

Penetration rates to increase thanks to mobile broadband

Figure 1: British internet penetration at home/work/place of study or elsewhere, by gender, age, socio-economic group, region and working status, 2003-08

Broadband growth driven by young men in London and South

Figure 2: Broadband internet at home usage, by gender, age, socio-economic group, region, working status and technology usage, 2007-08

Price competition attracts the less well off

Sky leaps ahead as Orange and Tiscali lose out

Figure 3: New broadband customer connections, Q2 2008

Advertising spend of leading ISPs

Figure 4: Advertising spend, by top ten internet service providers, January-September 2008

Broadband provision market showing signs of maturing

Operators starting to put the emphasis on profitability of customers…

…as consumers focus on speed and service issues

ISPs deliberately throttling speeds

Device Usage Analysis

Key points

Figure 5: Device usage summary, July 2008

DEs and 20-24s lead decline in standard mobile usage

Figure 6: Digital device usage over time, by gender, age and socio-economic group, April and July 2008

Young switching to smartphones

Mainstream adoption is a ‘When’ not an ‘If’

PDAs evolving into smartphones for survival

Digital media

Figure 7: Digital device usage over time, 2007-08

Digital radio leaps forward

Internet radio on the rise

Digital radio becoming a strategic service

HDTV party short of guests

Figure 8: Digital TV usage profile, by gender, age, socio-economic group and household size, July 2008

HD set ownership driven by household size

More HD services, but will it boost HDTV demand?

Blu-ray fails to shine as costs weigh heavily with consumers

Interactive services climb as Channel 5 switches its red button off

Personal media player usage driven by the young

Figure 9: Personal media player usage over time, by age, April and July 2008

Young power portable gaming - older drive static gaming

Figure 10: Gaming device usage profile, by gender, age and socio-economic group, April and July 2008

Portable gaming platforms to become even smarter

Internet Usage Experiences

Key points

Figure 11: Summary of types of activity undertaken on the internet in the last three months, July 2008

Consumers searching more and finding less

Figure 12: Types of activity undertaken on the internet in the last three months, 2003-08

More search only equates to more frustration for consumers

Newspapers needing to attract online users

Music and DVD facing moment of truth as the crunch bites

Figure 13: Types of activity undertaken on the internet in the last three months, 2003-08

Figure 14: Types of activity undertaken on the internet in the last three months, by gender, socio-economic group, age, working status, household income and presence of children, July 2008

The less well off attracted to music savings online

Social networking sites letting the kids down

Figure 15: Communications activities undertaken on the internet in the last three months, 2003-08

Figure 16: Profile of social networking sites visited on the internet in the last three months, by gender, age, socio-economic group and presence of children, July 2008

Facebook discovers the risks in the race for revenues…

…whilst MySpace takes the safer route to revenue generation

Games industry also suffering at hands of online pirates

Figure 17: Types of activity undertaken on the internet in the last three months, 2003-08

Figure 18: Types of activity undertaken on the internet in the last three months, by gender, age, socio-economic group, household income and presence of children, July 2008

Men and the young download games - but not always legally

Transactions

Figure 19: Types of activity undertaken on the internet in the last three months, 2003-08

Figure 20: Profile of those paying household bills on the internet in the last three months, by gender, socio-economic group, age, region, working status, household income and presence of children, April and July 2008

Mobile becoming an increasingly important platform for price comparison

The crunch dampens digital

Browsing and Buying Behaviours

Key points

Figure 21: Summary of change to websites actually purchased from in the last three months, April and July 2008

Online purchasing activity looking healthy

Figure 22: Any type of website browsed for information purposes in the last three months, 2002-08

Clothing continues its stellar run - young now taking online seriously

Figure 23: Clothing and food websites browsed for information purposes and purchased from in the last three months, 2007-08

Interest in online food hits new high as prices soar

Entertainment tickets benefit from summer season

Figure 24: Entertainment and CD/DVD websites browsed for information purposes and purchased from in the last three months, 2007-08

Figure 25: Websites actually purchased from in the last three months, by gender, socio-economic group and age, April and July 2008

Writing on the wall for CD/DVDs

Downloading fuelled by surge of services

News sites attracting offline readers online

Figure 26: Websites browsed for information purposes in the last three months, 2002-08

Figure 27: Websites browsed for information purposes in the last three months, by gender, socio-economic group and age, April and July 2008

News sites attracting the right sort of readers

Sports news attracting men with time on their hands

Finance news being lapped up by us all

Amount Spent Online

Key points

Proportion of online buyers

Figure 28: Incidence of purchasing over the internet in the last three months, 2002-08

Incidence of online buyers holds up well in seasonal context

Figure 29: Seasonal percentage point change in incidence of purchasing over the internet in the last three months, 2005-08

What credit crunch?

Figure 30: Tendency of internet shoppers to purchase in various product categories in the last three months, 2002-08

Seasonal context looks even better - except for travel

Figure 31: Seasonal percentage point change in amount spent on purchasing over the internet in the last three months, 2005-08

Expenditure brackets

Figure 32: Amount spent on purchasing over the internet in the last three months, by category, April and July 2008

Youth Surfing Habits

Key points

More time spent online than ever

Figure 33: Time spent online during a typical week - 11-18-year-olds, by age, August 2008

Differences in where, and how youth access the web

Figure 34: Where accessing the internet - 11-19-year-olds, by age, 2008

Figure 35: How accessing the internet - 11-19-year-olds, by age, 2008

Attitudes of the young online

Some finding real solace online - but only a minority at present

Figure 36: Attitudes towards the internet - 11-18-year-olds, August 2008

Higher Education brings kids into the real world

Figure 37: Attitudes towards the internet - 11-18-year-olds, by age, socio-economic group and working status, August 2008

Those feeling more understood online becoming more addicted

Figure 38: Attitudes towards the internet against time spent online - 11-18-year-olds, August 2008

Is the web creating an isolated underclass?

Figure 39: Statements agreed with - 11-18-year-olds, August 2008

How the young use the internet

Music and video dominate online youth activities

Figure 40: How youth use the internet - 11-18-year-olds, August 2008

Youth more forthcoming about illegal downloading

Vodafone in danger of missing a slice of the download action

Figure 41: How youth use the internet - 11-18-year-olds, by socio-economic group, network and region, August 2008

Those visiting online worlds especially active online

Figure 42: Selected activities undertaken online - 11-18-year-olds, August 2008

Those buying just as likely to download illegally - and vice versa

Using PC as a TV

Statements agreed with by youth

Figure 43: Statements agreed with - 11-18-year-olds, August 2008

Bullying online

Leaders of the future

Naivety of 11-15-year-olds exposed

Figure 44: Statements agreed with - 11-18-year-olds, by gender, age and socio-economic group, August 2008

Boys cheating online

Social networking tribute sites

Figure 45: Length of time spent online - 11-18-year-olds, versus selected internet activities, August 2008

Gossips slow to learn their lesson

Figure 46: Youth experiences online - 11-18-year-olds, August 2008

Online daters display growing pains

Figure 47: Attitudes towards the internet against statements agreed with - 11-18-year-olds, August 2008

Appendix - Internet Penetration

Figure 64: Broadband internet at home usage, by gender, age, socio-economic group, region, working status and technology usage, 2007-08

Figure 65: British internet penetration at home/work/place of study or elsewhere, by gender, age, socio-economic group, region and working status, 2003-08

Appendix - Device Usage Analysis

Figure 66: Digital device usage over time, 2007-08

Figure 67: Digital device usage, by gender, age, socio-economic group, marital status, lifestage, presence of children, Mintel’s Special Groups, working status, tenure, region, ACORN category, media usage, supermarket usage, household size, car ownership, detailed lifestage groups and terminal education age, July 2008

Figure 68: Digital device usage, by gender, age, socio-economic group, marital status, lifestage, presence of children, Mintel’s Special Groups, working status, tenure, region, ACORN category, media usage, supermarket usage, household size, car ownership, detailed lifestage groups and terminal education age, July 2008

Figure 69: Digital device usage, by gender, age, socio-economic group, marital status, lifestage, presence of children, Mintel’s Special Groups, working status, tenure, region, ACORN category, media usage, supermarket usage, household size, car ownership, detailed lifestage groups and terminal education age, July 2008

Figure 70: Digital device usage, by gender, age, socio-economic group, marital status, lifestage, presence of children, Mintel’s Special Groups, working status, tenure, region, ACORN category, media usage, supermarket usage, household size, car ownership, detailed lifestage groups and terminal education age, July 2008

Appendix - Internet Usage Experience

Figure 71: Types of activity undertaken on the internet in the last three months, 2003-08

Appendix - Online Activities in Last 3 Months

Figure 72: Types of activity undertaken on the internet in the last three months, by gender, socio-economic group, age, region, working status, household income and presence of children, July 2008

Figure 73: Types of activity undertaken on the internet in the last three months, by gender, socio-economic group, age, region, working status, household income and presence of children, July 2008

Figure 74: Types of activity undertaken on the internet in the last three months, by gender, socio-economic group, age, region, working status, household income and presence of children, July 2008

Figure 75: Types of activity undertaken on the internet in the last three months, by gender, socio-economic group, age, region, working status, household income and presence of children, July 2008

Figure 76: Types of activity undertaken on the internet in the last three months, by gender, socio-economic group, age, region, working status, household income and presence of children, July 2008

Appendix - Browsing and Buying Behaviours

Figure 77: Websites browsed for information purposes in the last three months, 2002-08

Figure 78: Websites actually purchased from in the last three months, 2005-08

Appendix - Sites Browsed for Information

Figure 79: Websites browsed for information purposes in the last three months, by gender, socio-economic group, region, working status, household income and presence of children, July 2008

Figure 80: Websites browsed for information purposes in the last three months, by gender, socio-economic group, region, working status, household income and presence of children, July 2008

Figure 81: Websites browsed for information purposes in the last three months, by gender, socio-economic group, region, working status, household income and presence of children, July 2008

Figure 82: Websites browsed for information purposes in the last three months, by gender, socio-economic group, region, working status, household income and presence of children, July 2008

Appendix - Sites Purchased From

Figure 83: Websites actually purchased from in the last three months, by gender, socio-economic group, region, working status, household income and presence of children, July 2008

Figure 84: Websites actually purchased from in the last three months, by gender, socio-economic group, region, working status, household income and presence of children, July 2008
Figure 85: Websites actually purchased from in the last three months, by gender, socio-economic group, region, working status, household income and presence of children, July 2008
Figure 86: Websites actually purchased from in the last three months, by gender, socio-economic group, region, working status, household income and presence of children, July 2008
Figure 87: Websites actually purchased from in the last three months, by gender, socio-economic group, region, working status, household income and presence of children, July 2008

Appendix - Amount Spent Online

Figure 88: Amount spent on books purchased over the internet in the last three months, 2002-08

Figure 89: Amount spent on CDs/tapes/DVDs/videos purchased over the internet in the last three months, 2002-08

Figure 90: Amount spent on clothing and footwear purchased over the internet in the last three months, 2002-08

Figure 91: Amount spent on computer hardware and software purchased over the internet in the last three months, 2002-08

Figure 92: Amount spent on entertainment tickets purchased over the internet in the last three months, 2002-08

Figure 93: Amount spent on flights/holidays purchased over the internet in the last three months, 2002-08

Figure 94: Amount spent on grocery shopping purchased over the internet in the last three months, 2002-08

Figure 95: Amount spent on products from an auction site purchased over the internet in the last three months, 2002-08

Figure 96: Amount spent on financial services-related products purchased over the internet in the last three months, 2002-08

Appendix - Youth Surfing Habits

Figure 97: Time spent online during a typical week - 11-18-year-olds, August 2008

Figure 98: Attitudes towards the internet - 11-18-year-olds, August 2008

Figure 99: How youth use the internet - 11-18-year-olds, August 2008

Figure 100: Statements agreed with - 11-18-year-olds, August 2008

Figure 101: Time spent online during a typical week - 11-18-year-olds, by gender, age, socio-economic group, ethnicity, newspaper readership, payment method, network, region and working status, August 2008

Figure 102: Attitudes towards the internet - 11-18-year-olds, by gender, age, socio-economic group, ethnicity, newspaper readership, payment method, network, region and working status, August 2008

Figure 103: Attitudes towards the internet - 11-18-year-olds, by gender, age, socio-economic group, ethnicity, newspaper readership, payment method, network, region and working status, August 2008

Figure 104: How youth use the internet - 11-18-year-olds, by gender, age, socio-economic group, ethnicity, newspaper readership, payment method, network, region and working status, August 2008

Figure 105: How youth use the internet - 11-18-year-olds, by gender, age, socio-economic group, ethnicity, newspaper readership, payment method, network, region and working status, August 2008

Figure 106: Statements agreed with - 11-18-year-olds, by gender, age, socio-economic group, ethnicity, newspaper readership, payment method, network, region and working status, August 2008

Figure 107: Statements agreed with - 11-18-year-olds, by gender, age, socio-economic group, ethnicity, newspaper readership, payment method, network, region and working statusographics, August 2008

Abstract

The initial speed of growth displayed by the Internet caught everyone by surprise. Just think how much you rely on it today and try to remember a time without it. And it's still changing at that same hectic speed. Which is why Mintel has introduced the first Internet report that moves with the times - a living-breathing analysis of the Internet and how consumers use it. Available immediately on a subscription basis, updated quarterly.

Sampling 870 Internet users, Mintel identifies the usage, access and subject of Internet use. With updates posted each quarter, it's the ideal way to stay in touch with how, where, when and why the Internet is being used in your sector, along with what purchases are made.

• How do users access the Internet?
• Which ISP's and browsers are used?
• Where do they visit when online?
• When do they surf? At home or at work?
• What do they purchase online and how often?
• Who is the most likely to make a purchase?

• Updated, fresh data in a rapidly-moving sector
• Monitor and track trends on a quarterly cycle
• Extensive coverage of all key product sectors
• Comparison and analysis of the main online areas
• Change your offer to meet consumer demands
• Build an historical document with quarterly live data

However fast the Internet moves, you move with it. All the changes and trends as they happen, providing reliable answers to your latest e-business marketing issues. The Web updates at the speed of light, so make sure your research does the same. Don't get caught thinking about the future.

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