According to a just released ComScore report, Mexico has the second-largest Internet population in Latin America, with 12.7 million home and work users and total of 24.7 million users in the extended universe. Total online hours per visitor/week amounted to 23.2 hours, higher than the worldwide average of 22.3 hours.
According to the report the most popular web properties in Mexico are based in the U.S.(Microsoft,Yahoo and Google sites, in that order). Televisa is the top local site represented in the top 20.
In addition the report concludes that:
• Mexican Internet users skew dramatically young: 7`% of Mexico’s online population is under the age of 34, compared to 52% of the Worldwide Population.
• As in many developing Internet markets, Mexico shows a strong focus on Communications: Instant Messengers, e-mail, Discussion/Chat, Social Networking and e-Cards. Both
• Young Internet users in Mexico spend far more time online than other young Internet users worldwide – the average 15-24 year old internet user in Mexico spends 26.6 hours online per month, five more hours than the average 15-24 year old. Mexican 15-24 Year olds (48% of Internet population) visit a larger number and a wider variety of websites and currently drive the poularity of Entertainment , Multimedia, Social Networking, and Photo Sites in Mexico.
• Mexican Internet users in older age groups spend less time online who compared with their contemporaries elsewhere, particularly in the 45-54 age group. They spend less time overall and visit fewer sites than their younger cohorts. Older users also make up more than their “fair share” of visiting to News, Business/Finance, Banking, Weather, and Travel sites.
• Visiting to Education sites is above average, reflecting the young profile of the market. Online newspaper visiting is above average
• While Social Networking and Multimedia are very popular in Mexico, penetration rates hover around the global average.
• Fragmented Social Network Landscape: The full category reaches 64.6% of the Mexican audience. There is not a clear leader: lots of functional sharing overall with photo sharing sites, which are actually the Social Networking sites with the highest usage (Metroflog, Fotolog). In addition, Facebook’s growth in Mexico outpaces its global growth by almost 2x. At the current growth rates, Facebook will be the #1 Social Network in Mexico as early as June 2009.
• Older Internet users are more likely to visit News/Information sites, and as the Mexican internet market matures and overall web adoption increases, that segment of the market will drive growth in News and Information categories.
• Sports site visiting is below average in Mexico:23.7% of the online population visited a Sports site, compared to the worldwide average of 31.9% sports visiting.
• Mexico makes up 15% of the Latin American population but only 8% of online dollars. E-commerce buyers penetration in Mexico is 2%, compared to 6% in Brazil and 12% in Puerto Rico.
Related Article:
According to a study released two weeks ago, by PriceWaterhouse and IAB Mexico, Mexican online advertising expenditures grew by 84% during 2008 to aproximately $180 million.