Héloïse Goy with Alexis Patri 11:19 a.m., February 11, 2022

The company Médiamétrie, specializing in audience measurement, unveils its annual study on the relationship of the French to the Internet and their consumption of it.

A study that decrypts Friday at the microphone of Philippe Vandel in "Culture Media" Bertrand Krug, the digital and press director of Médiamétrie.

2h26 is the average time the French spent daily on the Internet in 2021. Close to one minute, it is the same time as in 2020. But this figure is much higher than that of the year 2019. Out of ten years, the time spent on the Internet has multiplied by 5 in France.

Médiamétrie shared these figures yesterday in a press conference and Bertarnd Kruger, its digital and press director, detailed them on Friday in 

Culture Médias

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"The Internet has been considerably democratized. The improvement of networks and the rise of mobile phones have played an essential role, allowing us to connect everywhere and all the time, and to promote the digitalization of services, and the enrichment of content. with the boom in online video", analyzes Bertrand Krug.

A persistent digital divide

"The year 2020 was marked by an acceleration of uses linked to the pandemic: telework, health, education, leisure, click and collect", he continues.

"And we see that the French have retained some of their habits in 2021, which explains why we find a time spent on the Internet equivalent to what we observed in 2020."

Today, more than 92% of French households have access to the Internet, but the digital divide persists.

Every month, another 10 million French people do not connect (especially those aged 65 and over).

On the hardware side, more than a quarter of French people only use their mobile phone to connect.

A share that climbs to 64% among 14-24 year olds.

The GAFAs still as powerful

The pandemic has also greatly influenced the behavior of French people on the Internet, in particular their searches on the web.

"The Internet has accompanied the French during the pandemic to get information, telecommute, have fun, do their shopping and even sometimes do sports at a distance", he lists.

"And the Internet has encouraged appointments for vaccination, with sites like Doctolib. And the mobile has become the essential tool for going out, with the health pass on the TousAntiCovid application."

The TousAntiCovid application and the Doctolib site thus both entered the top 20 of the most visited sites in 2021. But, more generally, the sites at the top of the ranking remain more or less the same as in previous years.

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"The ranking of the sites and applications most consulted by the French remains trusted by the famous GAFA: Google, YouTube, Facebook services with WhatsApp and Instagram, or even Amazon", confirms the digital and press director of Médiamétrie.

"But we also find actors as diverse and varied as Wikipedia, Le Bon Coin or news sites. Significant fact: social networks account for a third of the time spent on the Internet."

After deconfinement, outing sites such as cinemas, museums or amusement parks reached even higher levels of attendance than before the pandemic.