comScore Releases Latest Report on Internet Usage Across 49 European Markets

comScore recently released an overview of internet usage in Europe, showing 381.5 million unique visitors went online in December 2011 for an average of 27.5 hours per person. This release highlights internet usage in 49 European markets aggregated into the European region and provides individual reporting on 18 markets.

Two out of three internet users in the Netherlands accessed online banking sites, making it not only the top penetration market in Europe, but in all global markets, with France coming in second and Sweden coming in third for online banking access.

The growth of Russian social network Fotostrana.ru which belongs to the Hamborner Holdings property, made it the fastest growing property (up 52 per cent) from November to December, followed by software company Opera Software (up 36 per cent).

In terms of the most popular sites in Europe, Google Sites continued to rank first with 350.2 million unique visitors. Facebook, which ranked third in audience size with 258.1 million visitors, had the highest overall engagement at 93.3 billion minutes spent on the site in total. Interestingly, Vkontakte had the highest average user engagement at 7.9 hours per visitor during the month.

The Russian internet audience continued to be the largest audience by users in Europe with nearly 53.3 million users accessing the internet in December 2011. The UK continued to show the highest engagement, with users spending an average of 35.6 hours online during the month. Turkey overtook the Netherlands to rank second for engagement with users spending an average of 33.7 hours online during the month.

StrikeAd partners with Cognitive Match to Eliminate Generic Ads on Mobile

StrikeAd, the London and New York based mobile advertising specialist, and the developer of the industry’s first mobile-specific demand-side platform (DSP), announced this week it is to partner with Cognitive Match, developer of market-leading Dynamic Creative Optimisation (DCO) solutions, to deliver powerful personalised mobile ad campaigns eliminating generic ads and creating content that is tailored to individuals.

The partnership will now enable StrikeAd to offer advertisers the opportunity to place real-time mobile-specific DCO ads in front of the right consumers with the goal of increasing engagement, reach and overall mobile ad campaign ROI. StrikeAd Fusion is a proprietary mobile-specific platform, providing a single console through which agencies can plan, execute and evaluate hundreds of mobile campaigns on a global basis in real-time.

Alex Rahaman, CEO of StrikeAd feels they are embarking on something unique. "This partnership is one of the first of its kind in the industry, and is going to dramatically change the way the mobile ad market develops. Using our platform, combined with Cognitive Match's learning engine designed to deliver creatives that visually inspire the individual to action, advertisers will be able to see the effectiveness of their mobile ad campaigns, all in real-time."

The Cognitive Match software uses a blend of artificial intelligence, psychology and semantic technologies, to build hundreds of data points to make split-second decisions about what content to display at every impression. The partnership with Cognitive Match will enable StrikeAd to provide advertisers with increased acquisition and reach for mobile ad campaigns by matching elements of a campaign which appeal to individual consumers – based on consumer data collected in real-time – and deliver them on to their mobile.

"By optimising every stage of a mobile ad campaign with our DCO solution, advertisers can achieve much more from each individual campaign, and learn more about their audience as a result", commented Alex Kelleher, CEO and Founder of Cognitive Match.

GaultMillau.fr Joins 24/7 Media’s “Lifestyle Pack”, Offering Advertisers a Lux Audience

Prominent French gastronomy and lifestyle website GaultMillau.fr, has selected 24/7 Real Media as their ad sales partner. With nearly 200,000 unique visitors each month, the site draws an audience interested in a lush lifestyle of travel, wine and fine dining. Gault Millau is a 40 year-old food and wine brand in which the French have confidence and is especially popular in Paris. This new partnership enables 24/7 Real Media to expand its package of lifestyle sites already on offer, which include AtelierDesChefs.fr and Gustave.com. The “Lifestyle Pack” curated by 24/7 Real Media has 2.2 million unique visitors.

Edward Dinichert, Director of Governance for 24/7 Real Media, welcomes the addition. "GaultMillaut.fr represents a real opportunity for advertisers to communicate on a very specific theme and in a positive environment : the art of living and pleasure. We aim to continue growing this package with the addition of many famous brands within this topic."

Chérisey of Como, CEO of Gault Millau, is equally happy with the partnership. "We are very happy we chose 24/7 Real Media for our advertising. The pack of which we are a part is dedicated to the world of the art of living and is a digital solution to convince AB +."

24/7 Media was bought by WPP for $649 million in 2007 and is used as its ad server technology within the WPP operation. 24/7 Media also works directly with a number of European publishers as their ad server partner - and in some markets still operates an ad net business.