The German market is hungry for I-gaming. According to research from Nielson//NetRatings, more than 25 percent of the country's 84 million inhabitants visited entertainment Web sites during October 2004, and during that same period, 6.6 million surfed to gambling Web sites.
To put things in perspective, these numbers indicate that the "gambling" category is nearly as popular as "online-music" (7.2 million users) and more popular than "games" (6.3 million), "weather" (5.2 million) and "financial services" (5.2 million).
The ratings company's latest numbers on Internet gambling operators in Germany show the following hit parade (17 of which are lottery sites):
The Top 20 - Audience All Gambling/Sweepstakes (6,581,000 total users)
- Tipp24.de: 1,137,000 users
- Profiwin.de: 919,000
- Web.de MillionenKlick: 740,000
- 4 com! OnlineStar: 608,000
- Herbstgewinn.de: 548,000
- Planet 49: 539,000
- MidasPlayer.com: 530,000
- Lotto.de: 486,000
- planetwin 466,000
- Goldtraum.de: 444,000
- betandwin.de: 441,000
- Bluevex: 334,000
- Gewinnspiel-exklusiv.de: 299,000
- milliando: 258,000
- myBet.com: 256,000
- Lotto Bayern 250,000
- Westlotto: 237,000
- InterCasino: 229,000
- MAXIBONUS: 221,000
- kicktipp.de: 219,000
Research from Nielsen//NetRatings 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 percent to 100 million. France experienced the highest growth in the last 12 months, followed closely by Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany.
According to the research, the use of high-speed Internet connections has also increased dramatically. In the 12 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 percent. The largest increases occurred in Italy (120 percent) and England (93 percent).
Growth of the Active Internet Audience
France: 16%
Italy :15%
UK: 13%
Germany: 12%
Switzerland: 5%
Spain: 3%
Sweden: 1%
Total Europe: 12%
"Twelve months ago, high-speed Internet users made up just over one third of the audience in Europe," European Internet analyst Gabrielle Prior explained. "Now they are more than 50 percent, and we expect this number to keep growing.
She added, "As the number of high-speed surfers grows, Web sites will need to adapt, update and enhance their content to retain their visitors and encourage new ones. In the future, Web sites will be 'sped' out of the market, not 'priced out.'"
Growth of Active High Speed (>56k) Internet Users (11/03 - 10/14)
Sweden 23%
Germany 33%
Spain 35%
Switzerland 42%
France 70%
UK 93%
Italy 120%
Total Europe 60%