By Michael Pastore , February 5, 2001
More than 6 million Italians went online from their homes in December 2000, making Italy the fourth largest Internet market in Europe, behind the UK, Germany, and France, according to Jupiter MMXI.
With 71 percent of Italian Internet users being men, Italy has the highest proportion of men online. In Europe as a whole, more men use the Internet than women, but the numbers are reaching parity in countries like Sweden, where women make up 45 percent of people online aged 12 to 79.
Italians also seem to prefer local brands, Jupiter MMXI found. Six of the ten most visited sites by Italians belong to local companies, such as Iol.it, Virgilio.it, and Tiscalinet.it. Global players, such as Microsoft.com, MSN.com and Yahoo.com also appear in the top 10.
| Top Sites Among Italian Internet Users | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Site | Unique Visitors (000) |
Reach (%) |
| 1. | IOL.it | 3,690 | 56.0 |
| 2. | Virgilio.it | 3,324 | 50.5 |
| 3. | Microsoft.com | 3,030 | 46.0 |
| 4. | MSN.com | 2,616 | 39.7 |
| 5. | Tiscalinet.it | 2,562 | 56.0 |
| 6. | Yahoo.com | 2,245 | 34.1 |
| 7. | TIN.it | 2,097 | 31.9 |
| 8. | Supereva.it | 2,020 | 30.7 |
| 9. | Kataweb.it | 1,880 | 28.6 |
| 10. | Yahoo.it | 1,747 | 26.5 |
| Source: Jupiter MMXI | |||