News

JupiterResearch's New European Digital Home Service Reveals Europe's Digital Differences are Narrowing (30/3/2005)

JupiterResearch, a division of Jupitermedia Corporation (Nasdaq: JUPM), today announced the publication of its annual European Digital Life Index (DLI) and the launch of a new research service, European Digital Home. The report reveals that differences in digital sophistication among European countries are narrowing but there remains a clear geographical hierarchy, ranging from the most digitally sophisticated Scandinavian markets at the top, to the least sophisticated southern European countries.

JupiterResearch's Digital Life Index scores seventeen Western European countries across forty different technology variables. JupiterResearch's DLI enables companies to assess the market opportunity for new digital product launches across the continent. Since 2003, the differences in digital sophistication between the developing markets and the mature markets have narrowed. The Scandinavian countries Sweden, Denmark and Norway again fill the top three positions, each driven by strong digital device adoption and highly developed Internet markets. The U.K. is the fourth most sophisticated in Europe and the highest-ranking northern European market, due largely to a dynamic digital TV sector and recent strong broadband growth. Germany, in ninth place, and France, in tenth place, both sit near the European average whereas weak Internet and TV trends contribute to Greece being in seventeenth place with the lowest European DLI score. "The European Digital Life Index demonstrates that digital lifestyles are common today, but across Europe there is no single digital lifestyle," stated Nate Elliott, Analyst at JupiterResearch. "Consumers adopt different digital products and services in different countries. Continued consumer adoption of digital products and services such as Digital Video Recorders, broadband, and Video on Demand will drive further digital sophistication of the European home," added Elliott.

The European Digital Life Index is the first report in JupiterResearch's new European Digital Home research service, which analyzes the market for digital consumer electronics as those devices become smarter, more digital and more connected. This new JupiterResearch service helps companies understand the arrival of the digital home in Europe and the evolving roles that the TV, hi-fi, home networking, console gaming and other digital platforms and devices will play in European consumers' lives. Using proprietary consumer survey data and market forecasts, the service provides strategic guidance to all companies in the digital home arena, enables companies to assess the market opportunity for new digital products and advises those companies on how to maximize revenue opportunities from emerging consumer behavior patterns. "JupiterResearch is taking the lead in providing our clients with insights on the digital home in a holistic fashion," stated David Schatsky, Senior Vice President at JupiterResearch. "Our new European Digital Home coverage complements our U.S.-based research and equips clients to seize market opportunities in a rapidly evolving sector," added Schatsky.

www.jupiterresearch.com