Around the world: browser preferences for content consumption

Exploring one day's worth of data, Alex Bennett found that Internet Explorer accounts for the largest percentage of content consumption globally followed by Chrome
Hands typing on computer
How does browser use impact content consumption? Photograph: Henrik Sorensen/Getty Images

When it comes to consuming content, the browsers we use can impact how we experience content, from look and feel to subtle navigation, load times, etc. So we decided to poke around in our network and figure out which browsers consumers prefer to use and how those preferences may shift across different parts of the globe.

Taking one full day's worth of data (Tuesday, July 2nd, 2013), we looked at total page views between each browser in our top 50 highest traffic volume countries and found this nifty breakdown:

Chart 1
Chart 1. Outbrain

We can see that Internet Explorer accounts for the largest percentage of content consumption globally (34%), followed by Chrome (25%).

If we look at this a bit differently and consider the average percentage of page views accounted for by each browser across the 50 countries, Chrome is winning with 36% of the audience on average, Internet Explorer is down to 23% and Firefox and Safari both have 18% market share.

Chart 2
Chart 2. Outbrain

Now, taking a look country by country, Chrome is the most popular browser in 34 out of the 50. However, Internet Explorer is still the most popular browser in some of the largest countries: the United States, Canada and Australia. This explains why Internet Explorer surpasses Chrome with the greatest percentage of total page views (Chart 1), but comes second to Chrome in terms of average market share (Chart 2).

Chrome is leading the way in France and the UK and Firefox is the most popular browser in Germany.

Safari is most popular in Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada, Australia, the UK, Denmark, Puerto Rico and Switzerland, where it has more than 25% of the market.

Nigeria is the only country of the top 50 where Opera is the most popular browser at 40% of users.

Here at Outbrain we're very interested in not only how browser preferences vary geographically, but also how they vary seasonally. So, stay tuned for more interesting insights as they emerge!

Alex Bennett is marketing intelligence analyst at Outbrain

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