Europe is at home online: 100 million and counting

The latest research from Nielsen//NetRatings, the leading provider of Internet research and analysis, shows that in the past 12 months the number of people actively surfing the web from home each month in Europe has grown by 12% to 100 million.

According to the research, the use of high speed Internet connections has also increased dramatically. In the twelve months to October 2004, the number of people in Europe surfing the Internet at high speed from home increased from 34.1 million people to 54.5 million people – an increase of 60%. The largest increases occurred in Italy (120%), and in the UK (93%).

Gabrielle Prior, European Internet Analyst said: “Twelve months ago high speed Internet users made up just over one third of the audience in Europe, now they are more than 50% - and we expect this number to keep growing. As the number of high-speed surfers grows, websites will need to adapt, update and enhance their content to retain their visitors and encourage new ones. In the future, websites will be ‘sped’ out of the market, not ‘priced out’.

More details over at Nielsen//NetRatings (PDF File)