Smartphones and tablets drive 7% of US digital traffic
October 11, 2011
comScore has released the report analysing how cross-platform consumption has created a vastly different landscape as US consumers utilise a growing number of devices to consume digital content. The report also analyses the impact these shifting consumption habits have on online visitation and engagement across the Internet.
“The popularisation of smartphones and the introduction of tablets and other web-enabled devices – collectively termed connected devices – have contributed to an explosion in digital media consumption. As these devices gain adoption, we have also seen the rise of the digital omnivores‚ – consumers who access content through several touchpoints during the course of their daily digital lives.” said Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile. “In order to meet the needs of these consumers, advertisers and publishers must learn to navigate this new landscape so they develop cross-platform strategies to effectively engage their audiences.”
Key findings from the report include:
– Mobile phones drive digital traffic around the world, while tablets are gaining steam. The share of non-computer traffic for the US stood at 6.8 per cent in August 2011, with approximately two-thirds of that traffic coming from mobile phones, and tablets accounting for much of the remainder.
– Increased WiFi availability and mobile broadband adoption in the US are helping drive connectivity. In August 2011, more than one third (37.2 per cent) of US digital traffic coming from mobile phones occurred via a WiFi connection. This percentage grew nearly 3 points in just the past three months. On the other hand, tablets, which traditionally required a WiFi connection to access the Internet, are increasingly driving traffic using mobile broadband access. In August, nearly 10 per cent of traffic from tablets occurred via a mobile network connection.
– Today, half of the total US mobile population uses mobile media. The mobile media user population (those who browse the mobile web, access applications, or download content) grew 19 per cent in the past year to more than 116 million people at the end of August 2011.
– iPads dominate among tablets in driving digital traffic. In August 2011, iPads delivered 97.2 per cent of all tablet traffic in the US. iPads have also begun to account for a higher share of Internet traffic than iPhones (46.8 per cent vs. 42.6 per cent of all iOS device traffic).