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Report: 60 Percent Of Internet Access Is Mostly Mobile

Greg Sterling on February 19, 2014 at 9:43 am

In a new global Mobile Media Consumption report, ad network InMobi asserts that, outside the US and UK, mobile media time spent now exceeds TV. However in the US, TV is still the top screen. The Mobile Media Consumption research was conducted by Decision Fuel and OnDevice Research and had roughly 14,000 respondents in 14 countries.

In emerging and especially less affluent markets, the InMobi report also confirms that mobile media time exceeds the PC internet. That’s now also true in the US.

Also consistent with other data, InMobi says that 61 percent of mobile internet users are on their devices while watching TV. The Nielsen figures for the US market are even more pronounced: “84 percent of smartphone and tablet owners say they use their devices as second-screens while watching TV at the same time.”

According to InMobi, this second screening is dominated by social activity, including social networking and texting.

Outside the US and UK smartphones are preferred for conducting most types of internet activities except for “shopping,” which in the report includes all purchases, banking and travel.

The report also finds that on a global basis (including US and UK data), people are going online primarily via mobile or splitting their internet time roughly equally between mobile and the PC. Those who go online “mostly via desktop” are now a tiny minority:

Mostly via Desktop — 11 percent
Evenly split between both mobile and PC — 28 percent
Mostly via mobile — 37 percent
Only via mobile — 23 percent

There’s a significant portion of the report devoted to mobile advertising advocacy including the statistic: “61 percent of mobile users are as comfortable with mobile advertising as they are with TV or online advertising.” The report also argues against the “fat finger” unintentional click meme that has followed mobile display advertising over the past couple of years. It asserts (excluding the US and UK markets) that only 17 percent of mobile ad clicks are unintentional.

More significantly, outside the US and UK markets, the report says that mobile media now have a greater influence on purchase decisions than TV. TV was second followed by the PC internet.

The final portion of the report is devoted to mobile commerce, with the upbeat assertion (excluding the US and UK) that “83 percent of consumers plan to conduct mobile commerce in the next 12 months, a 15 percent increase from where we are today.”

While the selective inclusion and exclusion of UK and US data is problematic, the overall report is consistent with other data: mobile internet time is now greater than PC internet time. Many audience segments prefer mobile to PC internet access and mobile commerce is growing.

The report provides a generally positive assessment of mobile advertising and its current impact or influence. However, excluding mobile video, most mobile display advertising today simply blows — to use the vernacular. Agencies, marketers and brands need to devote a great deal more time to mobile ad creative than they are today if they want to realize the medium’s full potential.

About The Author

Greg Sterling

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a personal blog, Screenwerk, about connecting the dots between digital media and real-world consumer behavior. He is also VP of Strategy and Insights for the Local Search Association. Follow him on Twitter or find him at Google+.