More and more media products via the internet
- Sharp rise in listening to the radio and watching TV via the internet
- Online banking and shopping widely accepted
- Mobile internet access booming
- Six out of seven households now online
In 2008, more than half of people in the Netherlands who use the internet use it to listen to the radio or watch TV, and nearly half download newspapers. This wide acceptance of internet activities also stretches to online banking and shopping. Over one quarter of internet users sometimes use mobile devices to go online.
Use of the internet for digital media and news has risen sharply between 2005 and 2008. The share of internet users listening to the radio or watching TV online doubled in this period, to over 50 percent. The share of internet users who download news from newspapers rose from one in three to nearly one in two.
Nearly three-quarters of internet users use online banking facilities in 2008. In 2005 this was les than 60 percent. In the last 12 months two-thirds of internet users reported they had purchased something online. Nearly half had done so in the last three months. The number of online shoppers rose by an average 5 percent points every year in the period 2002-2007, but has remained steady in the last 12 months.
Laptops with a wireless modem and mobile phones providing internet access away from home and the office are becoming increasingly popular. In 2008, one quarter of internet users sometimes uses mobile devices. More men than women use these devices to go online, 31 and 21 percent respectively. More and more households with internet access now have a laptop: 54 percent in 2008. They are replacing traditional desktop computers more and more.
In 2008, 86 percent of Dutch households were online. In the last few years this percentage has grown only very slowly. The increase in the percentage of households with broadband internet also seems to have come to an end. Today, nearly three-quarters of households have a broadband connection. This is the same share as last year. In 2002 this was only 15 percent.