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Contents
Report homepage
Contents
Issues in the Market
Insights and Opportunities
Fast Forward Trends
Market in Brief
Who's Innovating?
Internet Penetration
Device Usage
Internet Usage Experiences
Online Browsing Behaviour
Online Buying Behaviour
Youth Attitudes towards the Credit Crunch
Appendix – Internet Penetration
Appendix – Device Usage
Appendix – Internet Usage Experiences
Appendix – Online Browsing Behaviour
Appendix – Online Purchasing Behaviour
Appendix – Youth Attitudes towards the Credit Crunch
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Internet Quarterly - UK - December 2008
Table of Contents

Issues in the Market

Insights and Opportunities

Increasing the social element of eBay for youth?

Social networking grows up

Fast Forward Trends

Trend 1: Trading Up, Trading Down, Trading Over

What’s it about?

What’s next?

Trend 2: Finance in Flux

What’s it about?

What’s next?

Market in Brief

Internet penetration rises

Smartphone usage driven by new models and applications

Price-comparison sites prove their worth in the recession

Browsing acting as a cheap form of entertainment in the recession…

…whilst online purchasing looks a lot more healthy than the high street

The young also going online to save

Who's Innovating?

Digital music goes Lala

TfL looks at mobile phone ticketing

Road congestion comes to Google Maps

Online shopping gets drop box option

Microsoft to offer browser-based Office

Vodafone offers mobile books

MySpace looks to make profit from piracy

Internet Penetration

Key points

Overall internet penetration rises 3 percentage points

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

Is fixed-line broadband really ‘Super Fast’?

Figure 2: Average broadband speeds over time, 2006-08

Mobile web: falling data charges and faster connections

Sky the winner in fixed-line stakes

Figure 3: Broadband satisfaction, July 2008

Device Usage

Key points

Figure 4: Device usage summary, July and October 2008

Smartphone ownership continues its upward trend

Figure 5: Trends in mobile phone and PDA usage, 2007-08
New handsets that are currently driving ‘buzz’ in the sector:

Games consoles benefiting from price promotion

Figure 6: Trends in games console usage, 2007-08

Mobile gaming continues to expand its remit

Media players: ousting music-only players?

Figure 7: Trends in music device usage, 2007-08
Figure 8: Music device usage, by gender, age, socio-economic group, October 2008

New media services available this quarter

HDTV getting set for Christmas

Figure 9: Trends in digital TV device usage, 2007-08
Blu-ray take-up not as quick as hoped for due to high media costs

Interactive services losing their identity

Digital radio hits hard times

Figure 10: Trends in digital radio usage, 2007-08

Internet Usage Experiences

Key points

Figure 11: Summary of activities undertaken on the internet in the last three months, October 2008
Figure 12: Types of activity undertaken on the internet in the last three months, July and October 2008

Search for value boosts price-comparison sites

Figure 13: Price-comparison sites visited in the last three months, by gender, age, socio-economic group, region and working status, July and October 2008

Visa points to the future of online bill paying

Social networking widens its appeal to workplace issues

Figure 14: Social networking, watching videos and storing/receiving photos on the internet in the last three months, by gender, age, socio-economic group, region and working status, July and October 2008

Digital cameras are threatened by convergence

Surge in online video continues to strain relations

Online Browsing Behaviour

Key points

Figure 15: Types of websites browsed for information purposes in the last three months, July and October 2008
Majority of categories showing increased browsing activity
Googling for bargains
Interest in finance news intensifies since September crash
Figure 16: Finance news websites browsed for information purposes in the last three months, by gender, socio-economic group and working status, July and October 2008
Recession boosts directories and weather as consumers switch to the simple life
Figure 17: Weather and online directory websites browsed for information purposes in the last three months, by gender, socio-economic group and working status, July and October 2008

Online Buying Behaviour

Key points

Figure 18: Type of websites purchased from in the last three months, January-October 2008

Online not yet experiencing woes of the high street

Figure 19: Browsing and purchasing from any websites in the last three months, 2002-08

Cross-border e-tailing set to grow?

Music downloading slips as young and poor turn to alternative sources

Figure 20: Music downloads purchased in the last three months, by gender, age and socio-economic group, July and October 2008

Financial calamities force consumers to tend to affairs

Figure 21: Usage of websites to arrange a bank account in the last three months, by gender and socio-economic group, July and October 2008

Online food shopping set to increase

Figure 22: Supermarket websites browsed for information purposes and purchased from in the last three months, July and October 2008
Clothing to suffer a setback in recessionary times?
Figure 23: Clothing and food websites browsed for information purposes and purchased from in the last three months, July and October 2008

Interest in auctions mirrors general demand for value and discounting

Figure 24: Auction websites actually purchased from in the last three months, by gender and socio-economic group, July and October 2008

Toys and gifts shaping up for Christmas

Figure 25: Gift and toy/games websites actually purchased from in the last three months, by gender and socio-economic group, July and October 2008
AB men lead the way in early season shopping for gifts and toys

Youth Attitudes towards the Credit Crunch

Key points

Effect of the crunch on Christmas shopping habits

Figure 26: Effect of current economic situation on Christmas shopping intentions, October 2008
Younger consumers more likely to spend less than shift spend
Figure 27: Types of outstanding debt held, by product type and age group, April 2008
But less indebtedness can also be beneficial
More likely to switch to online than offline

Impact of the crunch on web browsing

Figure 28: Effect of the current economic situation on web browsing habits, October 2008
Business as usual for many
Increasing reliance on the web as a free communications tool
Figure 29: Average cost per voice minute, 2003-07
Vodafone and T-Mobile users the most thrifty online
Could eBay be more popular with younger age groups?
Women’s online browsing less affected than men

Impact of the crunch on download behaviours

Figure 30: Impact of current economic situation on downloading activities, October 2008
Very few have found download habits affected
Impact on illegal downloads

Appendix – Internet Penetration

Figure 31: Broadband internet at home usage, by gender, age, socio-economic group, region, working status and technology usage, 2007-08
Figure 32: 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

Figure 33: Trends in digital device usage, 2007-08
Figure 34: Most popular digital device usage, by detailed demographics, October 2008
Figure 35: Other popular digital device usage, by detailed demographics, October 2008
Figure 36: Least popular digital device usage, by detailed demographics, October 2008

Appendix – Internet Usage Experiences

Figure 37: Trends on types of activity undertaken on the internet in the last three months, 2003-08
Figure 38: Most popular types of activity undertaken on the internet in the last three months, by detailed demographics, October 2008
Figure 39: Popular types of activity undertaken on the internet in the last three months, by detailed demographics, October 2008
Figure 40: Other types of activity undertaken on the internet in the last three months, by detailed demographics, October 2008
Figure 41: Less popular types of activity undertaken on the internet in the last three months, by detailed demographics, October 2008
Figure 42: Least popular types of activity undertaken on the internet in the last three months, by detailed demographics, October 2008

Appendix – Online Browsing Behaviour

Figure 43: Trends in websites browsed for information purposes in the last three months, 2002-08
Figure 44: Most popular types of websites browsed for information purposes in the last three months, by detailed demographics, October 2008
Figure 45: Popular types of websites browsed for information purposes in the last three months, by detailed demographics, October 2008
Figure 46: Other types of websites browsed for information purposes in the last three months, by detailed demographics, October 2008
Figure 47: Less popular types of websites browsed for information purposes in the last three months, by detaled demographics, October 2008

Appendix – Online Purchasing Behaviour

Figure 48: Trends in websites actually purchased from in the last three months, 2005-08
Figure 49: Most popular types of websites actually purchased from in the last three months, by detailed demographics, October 2008
Figure 50: Popular types of websites actually purchased from in the last three months, by detailed demographics, October 2008
Figure 51: Other types of websites actually purchased from in the last three months, by detailed demographics, October 2008
Figure 52: Less popular types of websites actually purchased from in the last three months, by detailed demographics, October 2008

Appendix – Youth Attitudes towards the Credit Crunch

Figure 53: Effects of the current economic situation on Christmas shopping intentions of 16-25-year-olds, by detailed demographics, October 2008
Figure 54: Impact of the current economic situation on downloading activities of 16-25-year-olds, by detailed demographics, October 2008
Figure 55: Effect of the current economic situation on most popular web browsing habits for 16-25-year-olds, by detailed demographics, October 2008
Figure 56: Effect of the current economic situation on other web browsing habits of 16-25-year-olds, by detailed demographics, October 2008