Paris (AFP)
Always more mobile, social and video, but above all more frequent: the habits of French internet users reveal a sharp increase in time spent online, which averaged 2 hours and 12 minutes per day in 2019, according to a study by Médiamétrie published on Thursday.
The institute analyzed the behavior of some 26,000 French people representative of the population on their "internet screens", namely the computer, the tablet and the smartphone.
As a result, the penetration rate reached a plateau with 92% of households equipped with network access and 85% of French people who connect each month.
But the frequency of connection increases, mainly due to the increasing use of smartphones. All ages combined, French people connect on average 22 days each month and 2 hours and 12 minutes per day (including 1 hour and 24 minutes on mobile).
The study methodology has evolved this year, making it difficult to compare with 2018, when the daily duration was one hour and 37 minutes but underestimated the frequency of connection among the youngest.
Recalculated with data from social networks, the daily "surfing" time for 15-34 year olds reaches 3 hours and 14 minutes, 82% of which on mobile, or even exclusively on mobile for the majority of 15-24 year olds.
Social War big winners, social media accounts for 32% of internet surfing time. Six out of 10 French people connect to it daily, and the Médiamétrie study once again highlights the importance of the network of four brands belonging to Facebook (besides this one, Instagram, Messenger and Whatsapp) all present in the top 5 favorite social networks.
Another big consumer of time on the internet, online video sites. All categories combined, Youtube (Google) dominates the debates with 46 million unique monthly visitors, followed by Netflix (16 million), Allociné (15 million) then myTF1 (14 million).
The time spent on news sites also increases by 22% in one year but remains minimal compared to other uses, at 2 minutes and 8 seconds per day for all French people and 7 minutes and 41 seconds daily for them alone readers.
© 2020 AFP