Google and Facebook properties account for over a quarter of UK internet time

Google properties include search, YouTube and Gmail, while Facebook-owned properties include WhatsApp and Instagram. 

According to Verto Analytics’ findings, Yahoo and AOL’s newly-combined offering, Oath, now accrues the seventh most internet time in the UK, with 1.9% of time.

Nine of the 10 most dominant companies in the UK in terms of internet time are US firms (the one British firm is the BBC).

Sky is the only other UK company in the 20 most heavily-used sites in the UK.

“The implications of a handful of dominant companies – particularly just two – go beyond simply which sites we surf," said Hannu Verkasalo, CEO of Verto Analytics.

"You have fewer sites increasingly controlling not only what you see and hear but where advertising revenue goes.

“The erosion of newspapers, magazines and high street retailers plus the web giants sway over political elections is just the beginning."