Top-ten lists highlight European local mobile surfing habits

Is it true that some European countries really are sports crazy? And, who are the most news hungry of all Europeans? In this month’s State of the Mobile Web report, Opera Software maps out the usage of local websites all over Europe and reveals the differences in mobile web usage among countries.

According to the anonymous and aggregated data from the Opera Mini web browser, Romania and Spain are the top sports-surfing countries in Europe. They each have a local sports website on top of their top-10 list, unlike other European countries where sports sites appear lower in the lists.

‘News and Entertainment’ is clearly the most popular local website category throughout Europe, where all countries have at least one pure news website in the top-10 list of local websites. Croatia and Norway are the most keen on news, having a total of eight news websites in their top-10 lists.

Moving a bit eastwards in Europe, portals and web content aggregators seem to be more interesting for mobile web surfers. Education is also a category that shows up more frequently in the eastern European countries than the western European ones.

To read the full report, and to see the top-10 list in each European country, go to www.opera.com/smw

Some other findings:

Germany stands out by having a community site on top of its local website list.
Spain and Poland are the only two European countries with a local social network in the top-10 list.
The Greek seem to be very interested in the weather, with a weather website in third place.
In November 2012, the consumer base of the Opera Mini and Opera Mobile browsers increased in unique users. In all, more than 215 million people used Opera Mini or Opera Mobile in November, a 29 % year over year increase in unique users. The 215 million users viewed over 130 billion webpages in November, a 47% increase from November 2011.

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The worldwide World Wide Web — any device, any platform, any bandwidth, absolutely anywhere in the world. Opera Software was founded in 1994, based on the idea that access to the web should be a universal right. 275 million people (and counting) use the Opera web browsers for computers, mobile phones, TVs and other connected devices. Opera also delivers tools, distribution, engagement, monetization and market insights to developers, publishers and brands around the world. We are passionate about breaking down barriers, so everyone can share in the power of the internet. Our vision of one web for all remains at the heart of what we do, because we believe that participation changes everything. Opera Software ASA is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol OPERA. ‘Opera’, ‘Opera Software’, ‘Opera Mini’ and the ‘O’ logo are trademarks of Opera Software ASA. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Learn more about Opera at www.opera.com.