Dive Brief:
- A new comScore report titled "2017 US Cross-Platform Future in Focus" reveals that mobile now accounts for 69% of time spent with digital media, with smartphone apps accounting for 51% of all digital media time, per a Marketing Land article.
- In aggregate, the mobile audience for the top 1,000 online proprieties is approximately 2x that of the desktop audience, according to the article. There is also a growing mobile-only audience, led by women 18-24 at 22%, and followed by men in this age group at 16%.
- Facebook and Google dominate mobile apps in terms of unique visitors. Among the 20 most-used apps, Snapchat is the fastest growing, up 114% year-over-year.
Dive Insight:
Even for those in the mobile industry, comScore's report is full of eye-popping stats about just how strong the market is, like how seven out of every 10 minutes of YouTube video viewing occurs on a mobile device. For marketers who haven't started to push into mobile, the data highlights the growing difficulties in getting in front of consumers whose eyeballs are increasingly glued to their smartphones.
With consumers spending so much of their time on mobile, advertisers should be allocating a commensurate portion of their spend here, yet many do not. While mobile ad dollars continue to grow, the comScore report points out that 80% of ad dollars in the retail category go towards desktop while just 33% of consumer shopping time is spent there.
Besides reaching consumers where they actually are, there are indications that mobile advertising is more effective, possibly due to less clutter and the fact that ads typically appear when consumers are closer to the point of purchase. This effectiveness is apparent in higher aided awareness, favorability, likelihood to recommend and purchase intent results for mobile compared to desktop, according to comScore.
