REVEALED: The staggering amount Irish people spend on digital services

Households in Ireland spent close to €900 million on digital services in 2020, latest figures show. 

Information from the Central Statistics Office show that the total household expenditure on digital services is estimated at €896 million in 2020.

Video streaming services at €211m (24%) was the largest category of digital service followed by online gaming at €137m (15%) and online gambling at €130m (15%).

Irish households spent €49 million on social media and dating sites in 2020.

Of the €896m spent by Irish households on digital services, €138m (15%) was to Irish resident companies.

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

Commenting on the data, Patrick Quill, Senior Statistician, said: "This publication presents new estimates by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) 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," Mr Quill said.