British and French most susceptible to online marketing

The findings, from the 13th edition of the report, found that in the last six months 55.6% of French internet users had taken part in an online competition organised by a brand or an e-commerce site, compared with 35.1% of British internet users.

In contrast, Germans were the least likely to respond to advertising campaigns online and less than half of them thought online advertising was creative or innovative. 

This was despite the fact that German internet users were the most likely to pay for goods and services online. They were the most keen to participate in online auctions, with 37.5% of them having done so in the last month.

German users also sent the most texts and paid for or downloaded the most videogames.

Users across the UK came out on top as downloaders of music, with 17.4% of them having done so in the last six months.

The less mature markets in Europe of Italy and Spain came out as having the most popular perception of online advertising.

Of the Spanish users, 63.8% of users said they had discovered new products and services as a result of online ads. Only 49.6% of British users and a low 35% of German internet users said the same.

The Spanish market in particular is dominated by younger users, with more than 60% of them being between 15 and 34. This might explain why they were the most likely to use online information and communication services, including instant messaging and telecommunication software such as Skype.

They were also more likely than users from the UK or German markets to create a blog or use a podcast.

The survey was taken between March and June this year and took a sample of more than 170,000 internet users in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

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