Around 7.2 million Romanians have access to the Internet and spend, on average, 18.6 hours per week online, by almost 4 hours more than the European average, shows the first Mediascope Romania study.

Daily, 48 percent of Romanian users visit news sites and top online activities are carried out e-mail and Instant Messaging services. The mobile phone is used by 1.6 million Romanians, but only 1 percent use tablets to navigate on the Internet.

The study shows that the time spent varies depending on the equipment used: 18.3 hours online for those who use computers, compared with 12.4 hours for those who use mobile phones. 39 percent of Romanians spend an average of 18.6 hours online per week, exceeding the regional average of 16.1 hours (EEC) and 5 percent of heavy Internet users are young people.

In terms of usage, the Internet ranks third, after TV and radio, but is number two in terms of of hours spent per week, over the European average of 14.1 and above the region of 16, 1.

The study also shows that usually 95 percent of online users are documented before making a purchase. An internet user in Romania makes on average 8 online purchases in six months and spends on average EUR 247 per semester.

As for the multi-tasking media, 30 percent of Romanians are online while watching on TV, and more than half of them said that the action taken on the Internet is related to the viewed program. Romanians watch in the same time TV and online news especially, entertainment and documentaries.

Ioana Toader, ioana.toader@romania-insider.com