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Denmark is one of the latest countries to be added to our quarterly research into the attitudes and behaviors of global internet users, bringing our total markets to 45.
That means we’ll be speaking to 5,000 Danes across the course of each year to place a spotlight on their digital lives and lifestyles – understanding everything from their social media, app and website usage to their media consumption, brand engagement and ecommerce behaviors.
To give you a sneak peek into the insights we’ll be gathering, here are five key things to know about the country’s internet users.
1. Danish teens love Snapchat.
When it comes to social media, Denmark’s internet users are most likely to be on Facebook and Facebook Messenger.
However, Snapchat posts very strong results, which is particularly clear if we look at teens (16-19s). Almost 9 in 10 of the country’s teenagers are on the messaging app, underlining its popularity in mature markets and in Scandinavia in particular.
2. Mobile is the top device, but PCs and laptops are still important.
Ask Danish internet users to pick the most important device in their day-to-day lives, and it’s the smartphone that takes pole position, on over 40%.
While that makes mobile the clear leader, it’s a figure that’s much lower than in many other countries.
This shows that devices like PCs and laptops still have a key role to play.
In fact, add up the figures for laptops (26%) and PCs (25%) and their combined total puts them ahead of mobiles.
There’s an obvious age effect at work here, with younger groups being the most likely to select mobile as their most important device. But even so, no campaign should be overlooking the role of other devices for Danish internet users.
3. Search engines are still the go-to for brand research.
In some countries we track, internet users are now most likely to say they turn to social media when looking for more information about a brand or product.
As in many other European markets, however, Danish internet users still gravitate towards more traditional sources.
Search engines retain pole position here – and by quite some distance. Following behind are price comparison websites and product/brand websites, with social media and consumer reviews rounding off the top five.
Age is once again a very strong influencer here. In fact, the figures for search engines rise in line with age, while the numbers for social media show a clear decrease as ages progress. So, while there’s little doubt that social media’s prominence will continue to increase, for now it’s the search engine that’s set to retain its dominance.
4. 1 in 5 use VPNs.
Compared to the other European markets we track, Denmark is one of the leaders for using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).
About 1 in 5 internet users in Denmark say they have done this in the last month, with only Turkey and Switzerland scoring higher figures within Europe.
Among the many reasons that people might have for turning to VPNs, two stand out particularly clearly for Danish internet users: accessing better entertainment content and protecting their anonymity while browsing.
5. iPhone is the top mobile brand.
Danish internet users are most likely to own an iPhone, with the device having a 20-point lead over second-placed Samsung.
However, ask people which brand(s) would be their top choice when they next upgrade their handset or purchase a mobile and the competition becomes much closer. The iPhone retains pole position on over 45%, but Samsung is hot on its heels at 37%.
Denmark is quite different to a lot of the other markets we track in this respect; typically, the aspirational nature of the iPhone means that future purchase intention is (far) higher than current ownership.
In Denmark, the figures between iPhone ownership and future purchase intention are pretty even, and it’s actually rival Samsung which sees the big uplift.
