Slow starters
If radio has had a grip on the collective Spanish
consciousness for decades, then for a long time the
Internet had a firm hold on little more than apathy.
You might have assumed that a fresh method of mass
communication, untainted by censorship and associations
with the past, would have appealed. However, Spain was
very slow to embrace the new digital media and even
though there has been exponential growth in the area over
recent years the nation still lags some way behind its
European neighbours. Expensive local phone calls and low
levels of computer ownership hampered initial growth.
To d a y, t h e r e s h o u l d n ’t b e a n y e x c u s e s : S p a i n h a s a r o u n d
two million broadband lines, putting it in the top ten
worldwide. And yet, by 2007, only around 40 per cent of
all Spanish homes were online, more than ten per cent
below the EU average.Net gains: spending online
Spain’s shyness towards the Internet has clearly become
a source of irritation for its rulers. If it’s taken a while for
the Spanish to start accepting the Internet into their lives,
it’s taking considerably longer for them to start heading
online to spend, spend, spend. In 2005, it was estimated
that 74 per cent of Internet users in the UK would spend
money online. In France the figure was 54 per cent.
Spain lagged miles behind, with only 20-25 per cent
making an online purchase. The government, concerned
about slow economic growth in the sector, has set itself a
number of targets with regards to new media, information
technology and the Internet. In late 2005 they unveiled
Plan Avanza, featuring a raft of proposed objectives to help
the development of Spain’s ‘information society’.253- Identity: the
building blocks of
2. Literature
and philosophy
3. Art and
architecture
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
the details of
Plan Avanza
By 2010, the Ministerio de
Industria Turismo y
Comercio aims to hit the
following targets:62 per cent of households
with Internet access (39
per cent in 2006).45 per cent with broadband
access (29.3 per cent in
2006).65 per cent of people using
the Internet once a week
(40 per cent in 2006).The overall aim of Plan
Avanzais for online
commercial activity to
account for seven per cent
of GDP by 2010.Te c h - a g e a n g s t
Red.es, a public company
that promotes and reports
on new media use in Spain,
announced in 2005 that
23 per cent of Spanish
households had an
‘emotional barrier’ to new
technology and that only
16 per cent felt information
technology would have a
positive impact on their
lives at home.6.1.4 Blog off: getting to grips with new media
Site seeing: what are the
Spanish browsing?
If you skip past the
ubiquitous Google, you’ll
find that Spain’s topwebsites are still very
much dominated by
traditional media,
somewhat in contrast to
other Net-using nations.As late as summer 2007,
the websites for national
papers such as El Mundo
and El Paíswere matching
the likes of eBay inpopularity. Even the
sports paper, Marca,
and the gossip mag,
20 Minutos, weren’t far
behind.v4 SPAIN BOOK 27/3/08 10:05 Page 253