MediaTel

The UK's online audience grew by just under 2 million people in the past year according to data released by research company Kantar Media.

The represents a YoY change of 6% for the fourth quarter of 2009. Compare this to the same period 07-08 which saw a 8.5% growth and it becomes clear that overall take-up of the internet is dwindling.

Internet Users By Location
Out of the 35 million people online in the UK 97% accessed the internet from the comfort of home. Domestic usage, with 34 million home users, saw a 7% rise YoY for the forth quarter. While home usage was the fastest growing location 11.6 million people did access the internet through a work computer, nearly half a million more that the same period in 2008. Academic users only saw a slight growth of 2% YoY.

Internet Users by Gender
While there are still slightly more men on the internet than women Q4 sees a YoY growth for both sexes at 5.9%. Recently it looked as if female internet users where about to equal the number of men online but their growth had slowed down in the final quarter of 2009 leaving a marrow margin of 710 thousand between the sexes.

Internet Users by Age
The 55-64 year olds continue to be the fastest growing age group with a 14.7% rise YoY. The online uptake for other age brackets seems to be stabilising just under the 6% mark. The youngest age group, traditionally the first to adopt new technology, had the smallest growth over this quarter suggesting exhausted penetration levels.

Internet Users by Social Grade
While new instances of internet adoption is slowing down the lower social grades continue to grow at the fastest rate. Quarter 4 2009 saw the DE social grades report a YoY change of 11.6%. Compare this to the 2.4% change of the affluent equivalent, the AB demographic, and it's clear that afforadble broadband packages are making a difference to the UK online universe.