Irish households splash out €49m on social media and dating sites

Irish households spent €49 million on social media and dating sites in 2020, new figures show (Alamy/PA)

Irish households spent €49m on social media and dating sites in 2020, new figures show.

The total household expenditure on digital services was estimated at €896m in 2020, new data published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows.

Of the €896m, €138m (15%) went to Irish resident companies supplying digital services.

At €211m, video streaming services was the largest category of digital service, followed by online gaming at €137m and online gambling at €130m.

The largest share of the country’s digital service imports came from the UK at €302m, with online gambling being the largest service type imported from the UK.

Senior statistician Patrick Quill said: “This publication presents new estimates by the Central Statistics Office of household consumption of digitally provided services.

“The estimates are based on data from administrative sources as well as from publicly available information.

The analysis includes estimates of spending by households on streaming, gaming, audiobooks, podcasts, social media, app stores, data storage services, education and wellbeing and other online services.

“The costs of access to broadband and television are not included.”

The UK provided more digital services to Irish households than any other country at 34% of the total spend, followed by Ireland at 15% and the Netherlands at 13%.

Video streaming, at €211m or 24% of the total spend, was the largest category of paid-for digital services.

The next highest categories of spending were on online gaming and online gambling, both at 15% of the total spend.

In 2020, Irish households spent €49m on social media and dating sites, €25m on publishing, audiobooks and podcasts, and €21m on online services of education, wellbeing and hobbies in 2020.

These amounts add up to 11% of the total spend on digital services.

The CSO said international comparisons were not readily available.

However, cross-border spending of €758m on digital services by Irish households compares with an estimated €7.4bn cross-border digital purchases by German households in 2019.