Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Goin' Mobile: Tablets Go Boom

The Adobe Systems Digital Index group recently released a report showing that the share of Web site traffic coming from tablets more than tripled in the last year, and is expected to exceed smartphone Web traffic early next year (2013).  Interestingly, iPad tablet users visited twice as many websites on average as did users of tablets running Android OS.  Still, the share of Web site traffic remains fairly low,  with tablets generating 4.3% of all Web site visits, and smartphones 6.1%; PCs still dominate in generating Web site visits.
Looking more closely at user habits, the study found that tablets were most competitive in accessing media and content sites - where users were about as likely to access such sites via tablets as through their PCs.  The study found that for other uses, consumers preferred the PC for its form factor, access to printers and larger data storage capacity, and the fact that relatively few Web sites have versions optimized for tablet displays.

Meanwhile, a Bytemobile report found that tablet users generated three times more mobile data traffic as did smartphone users.  Looking at Web site traffic on a per-session basis, they found that iPad users browsed an average of 33 Web pages per session, compared to 12-13 pages per session for iPhone users.  Accessing online videos continued to be a major driver of Web traffic on mobile devices, driving more than 40% of mobile data traffic.  YouTube remains the most used source for online videos, with an average YouTube session lasting about 8.5 minutes.

Nielsen also released a report of a study of worldwide video usage, finding that among online consumers, watching TV on computers or mobile devices is as common as watching it on the traditional TV set.  Looking at viewing habits in 56 countries, the study found that 84% of viewers reported watching videos online at least once a month, while 83% said they watched traditional TV at least once a month.  Driving the change was the increase in mobile viewing - more than half of online consumers in those countries watched video on mobile phones at least once a month, and 28% reported doing so on a daily basis.  They found use of mobile for watching videos highest in Asia/Pacific and Middle East regions, where 40% of online consumers reported watching videos on their mobile phones at least once a day.

Sources -  Adobe: Tablets To Outpace Smartphone Traffic,  Online Media Daily
Study: Tablets generate triple the data traffic of smartphones.  Fierce Wireless
Trad TV Competes With Mobile For Video,  Media Daily News

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