About 80 pct. of teens & adults own smartphones; Facebook still tops

Roughly 80 percent of people in the Netherlands older than 13 years of age possess a smartphone, and 65 percent own a tablet, according to research by GfK. Among younger individuals, the share of smartphone ownership reaches 96 percent. Meanwhile, the penetration level of tablets is now higher than that of PCs, owned by 60 percent of those in the country. The level of PC ownership is remaining stable. At the same time, the number of people with a smartphone or a tablet is growing at a few percent per year. The growth is highest among young people. More youngsters now use apps on their smartphone to send messages (84%), instead of using the devices for phone calls (76%). There is a slight increase in the number of people using video-on-demand services. Currently, 38 percent use services like Netflix and Videoland. Younger users are also more often willing to pay to access their video content. Up to 50 percent of the VoD users access services via a mobile device. The number of accounts in social media remains stable, with 74 percent of Dutch using Facebook and 30 percent having a Twitter account. Among young people, the shares are 89% and 52% respectively. The number of youth using Facebook is increasing gradually, according to the research. This comes in contrast with previous studies suggesting a drop in the network usage. Instagram and Pininterest are becoming more popular in the Netherlands, with use on both networks growing by around five percent since the start of 2015.