Adult website owners with the world at their fingertips always look for more visitors; with prospects from certain geographical areas traditionally more profitable to target — such as those from the greater European region.

The following is a brief look at some of today’s top sources of, and destinations for, European traffic; along with how adult website owners can acquire and profit from these visitors, providing insights into the European scene today.

According to a recent comScore report, 397.8 million unique visitors are now online in Europe for an average of 25.9 hours per person per month. This market pool contains 49 countries aggregated by comScore under the European region, including these states, ranked by their monthly user volume: The Russian Federation, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, Italy, Turkey, Spain, Poland, Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Portugal, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Ireland.

To put these figures into context, there are 1,491,181,000 Internet users worldwide, which spend an average of 24 hours monthly online, according to comScore, which also reveals that while European Internet usage continues to grow not all audiences are similar — as some are much more engaged than others.

For example, comScore states that the Russian Internet audience is the largest online market in Europe, with 58.8 million users in June — but their average user engagement of 23.6 hours per month pales in comparison to England’s Internet junkies, which claim the top spot as the most engaged European market; with users averaging 37.9 hours per month online.

Beyond the United Kingdom other European countries enjoy widespread Internet use, such as the Netherlands, where surfers spend an average of 32.6 hours per month online. Poland (27.9), France (27.7), and Turkey (26.8), round out the top five most active lands online within Europe.

Although these countries represent the highest overall Internet use on the continent, this does not mean that these regions are prime and profitable markets for adult materials, so marketing should not be based merely on visitor volume alone.

One takeaway for Internet marketers from comScore’s latest findings is that around 70 percent of European Internet users patronize web based e-mail sites, such as Hotmail. This level of usage represents a growth rate of 14 percent over 2011, revealing that even in a Facebook world there is room for Gmail and its brethren — providing opportunities for perceptive promoters.

Another takeaway is that women form nearly half of the European Internet audience, and are the dominant source of visitors for sites such as Tumblr, which reportedly sees 69 percent of its visits from females.

Google, Bing, Facebook — sites that dominate the American market also hold sway in Europe, indicating that the best methods of getting European website visitors are much the same as those for getting American visitors: by focusing on a site’s Google and Bing rankings, along with its Facebook, Tumblr and other social media initiatives.

Of course, one major differentiator between American and European Internet users is the heavier emphasis on mobile access by the latter audience; but many of the operational concerns surrounding this distinction are becoming blurred, as HTML5 and the latest generation of mobile-friendly websites and web-enabled applications come to the fore.

Knowing where Internet users are coming from and going to means little to website operators unless they’re able to get a slice of this traffic. Fortunately, however, there are a number of sources that are well versed in delivering (and monetizing) adult traffic from European markets, targeting website advertisers and publishers that are seeking a chunk of the European market. Each of these companies has its own traffic sources and different advertising options, leading site owners to use multiple vendors to maximize their profits.

For example, adult mobile traffic network Adultmoda (www.adultmoda.com) recently released keyword and tag-based targeting, allowing publishers to display the most relevant ads, increasing relevance and driving better CTRs and higher revenues. Advertisers benefit from exposure to more qualified audiences via this system.

AdXpansion (www.adxpansion.com) is another entry in the European traffic field, serving more than 260 million visitors per day. According to the company, its system is based on a surfer’s actual clicks rather than simple impressions, with a content relevance matching system and keyword-based targeting. AdXpansion focuses on placing ads in prime locations, such as embedded in a video player, reinforcing the viewer’s connection between the content and its advertising.

EroAdvertising (www.eroadvertising.com) offers a technologically sophisticated traffic monetization platform backed by an experienced and knowledgeable support staff. Comprehensive geo-targeted, contextually relevant advertising, multi-lingual publishing tools and more, allow website owners to advertise or generate revenue by displaying ads with solutions including PPC, pay-per-view/impression, or per period. EroAdvertising’s flexible filtering and reliable campaign tracking provides clients with a competitive edge.

ExoClick (www.exoclick.com) is available in several languages, providing targeted traffic to advertisers from its parked domains, search portals and network of other sites. Pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns targeting specific categories, keywords or sites, coupled with geo-location, delivers the surfers you need, starting at a penny per unique click. Detailed real-time click statistics, advanced fraud protection and other systems, eliminate poor quality traffic. XML feeds, a referral bonus and more, round out ExoClick’s service.

Reporo (www.reporo.com) specializes in mobile traffic and offers a network of hundreds of advertisers targeting their campaigns based on territory, handset and billing; delivering visitors that convert, while paying the highest CPR (cost per redirect). Reporo says its approach will not cannibalize subscription sales and instead delivers the highest CPC possible across the countries it serves, including the U.S. and Canada, the U.K., EU, Australia, as well as regions in Southeast Asia, South America and beyond.

For traffic hungry adult website operators, or those seeking to part with ad inventory, these and other companies are the key to unlocking European and other targeted visitors as a reliable source of visitors, providing a useful addition to traffic garnered from search and social network marketing targeting a European audience.