ICT usage in households
In Belgium, one internet user[i] out of four (24 %) reported using commercial streaming services such as Netflix. In 2016, this was still 12 %. This is what emerged from a survey conducted in 2018 by Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, amongst 5,800 Belgians.
YouTube and other video services are also increasingly used: 1 Belgian internet user out of 2 reported using an online video service. In 2016, this was still 48%. There are big differences regarding age: 22 % of the 65-74 year olds say they watch online video material, compared to 79 % of the 16-24 year olds. There are also differences in the socio-economic situation: students make much more frequent use of online video services (84 %) than inactive people (30 %). There are slightly more men who use online video services (56 %) than women (48 %).
There are also differences in age, gender and socio-economic situation when using video material from commercial services such as Netflix. One student out of two (49 %) uses such services, compared to 25 % of employees and 9 % of inactive people. Mainly people aged 16 to 24 and 25 to 34 report using commercial video services. 26 % of men reported using such services, compared to 21 % of women. In 2016, this figure was still 14 % and 11 % respectively.
| Total | Gender | Level of education | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Women | Men | Low | Medium | High | ||
| Watch other online video material from commercial services (e.g. Netflix) on demand | 24% | 21% | 26% | 17% | 23% | 29% |
| To watch other online video material from video sharing services (e.g. YouTube) | 52% | 48% | 56% | 46% | 50% | 57% |
Airbnb & other private rental services on the rise
20 % of people having used the Internet in the last twelve months report that they have booked a stay proposed by an individual in the past year, via a website or an application created specifically for this purpose (Airbnb, Couchsurfing...). Mainly high-skilled people (31 %) use this kind of websites or applications.
Mobile devices are most often used to navigate the internet
Belgian internet users most often use a mobile device to navigate the internet. Smartphones rank first (82 %), followed by laptops or notebooks (67 %), desktops (45 %) and tablets (43 %). The use of a smart TV also increases: in 2018, 16 % reported having used the TV to navigate the internet. In 2016, this was still 11 %.
Regarding the use of a smartphone, all age groups register high scores, although there are big differences between the people aged 16-24 (95 %) and 65-74 (45 %). There is almost no difference between men (82 %) and women (81 %).
Whereas on average 43 % use a tablet to navigate the internet, 41 % of people aged 55 to 64 and 35 % of those aged 65-74 use a tablet, which is close to the overall average. A laptop is more often used by people aged 16 to 24 (77 %) and 25 to 34 (74 %), while a desktop is more often used by 45-54 year olds. Also for the desktop, the results for 55-64 year olds (46 %) and 65-74 year olds (40 %) are close to the overall average of 45 %.
[i] Percentage of inhabitants in Belgium aged 16 to 74 who have used the Internet in the last three months.