Mobile Internet use on the Rise – Report

Mobile Internet consumption increased at an average rate of 44% a year between 2010 and 2016 reveals the latest survey results from Zenoth.

Mobile Internet use will account for 26% of global media consumption in 2019, a significant increase from the 19% found in 2016.

This is according to Zenith’s Media Consumption Forecasts 2017, which was recently released by the global return-on-investment solutions company.

The report is a culmination of the company’s third annual survey which examines changing patterns of media consumption, and forecasts how the amount of time people allocate to different media will change between 2017 and 2019 in 71 countries across the world.

Explaining further, the survey found that people around the world will spend an average of 122 minutes a day accessing the mobile Internet via browsers and apps, an amount that has grown from just ten minutes a day since 2010.

“Mobile Internet consumption increased at an average rate of 44% a year between 2010 and 2016, driven by the spread of mobile devices, improvements in technology and greater availability of mobile-adapted content. Some of this extra consumption time was cannibalised from traditional media, but the spread of mobile technology has given a boost to overall media consumption by allowing users to access more media, in more places, and at more times than ever before. The average person spent 456 minutes consuming media in 2016, up from 411 minutes in 2010 – that’s an average increase of 2% a year,” it said.

Recent reports have indicated that there has been a steady increase in mobile market in the African region. Locally, the Stats SA’s latest ‘General Household Survey’ report, which was released last week, revealed that more South Africans are using their mobiles for Internet access.

“Nationally, Internet access using mobile devices (53.9%) was much more common than access at home (9.5%), at work (15.8%) and elsewhere (9.8%).”

In the African region, the smartphone market totalled 95.37 million units in 2016, according to research firm International Data Corporation (IDC). The company said while this was 3.4% year-on-year growth, it represents a considerable slowing from the double-digit growth rates seen in the previous two years. Overall, 215.33 million mobile handsets were shipped in Africa last year, up 10.1% on 2015.

“Mobile technology has thoroughly disrupted consumers’ media habits in less than a decade,” said Jonathan Barnard, head of forecasting at Zenith. “The pace of change is now slowing – at least until the next disruptive technology takes off.”

Despite the increasing rapid rise of the Internet, the survey concluded that traditional media will still account for 69% of global media consumption in 2017, adding that people will spend an average of 316 minutes a day with traditional media this year, down from 364 in 2010, with broadcast TV is still the largest single medium by consumption time.