Social networking and Internet
commerce are compelling smartphone users to spend an average of four hours
and thirty-eight minutes per month browsing the mobile Web in the United
States and two and a half hours per month in Britain, reports M:Metrics,
the mobile media authority.
According to March data from the measurement firm's metered smartphone
panel, active mobile Web users in the United States spent an average of one
hour and thirty-nine minutes in the month browsing Craigslist on their
smartphone, the longest duration of any site among the top twenty domains
visited. In the United Kingdom, Facebook commanded the most time spent
browsing in the month, with visitors dedicating an average of one hour and
forty-five minutes using the site, which is also drawing in users in
America. There, Facebook ranks fourth in terms of time spent browsing,
after eBay and MySpace, with Disney's Go.com rounding out the top five. In
the UK, the remaining top sites by browsing time are the mobile operator
3's portal, Sky TV, Microsoft's Live and BBC.
"People are becoming increasingly engaged in the mobile medium," said Mark
Donovan, senior analyst, M:Metrics. "Among smartphone users in the United
States, mobile browsing has increased 89 percent year over year, and
pageviews have increased 127 percent. Consumption is quickly evolving from
brief transactions, such as checking the weather or flight status, to
time-intensive interaction with mobile Web sites -- even without an
iPhone."
Top Domains by Time Spent Browsing per Month: United States
Domain Company Total
------ ------- -----
Total Total 4:37:48
craigslist.org Craigslist, Inc. 1:38:51
ebay.com eBay Inc. 1:25:41
myspace.com News Corporation 1:25:13
facebook.com TheFacebook, Inc 1:24:09
go.com The Walt Disney Company 1:07:04
Top Domains by Time Spent Browsing per Month: United Kingdom
Domain Company Total
------ ------- -----
Total Total 2:24:58
facebook.com TheFacebook, Inc 1:44:47
three.co.uk Hutchison Whampoa Limited 1:30:51
sky.com British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc 1:15:28
live.com Microsoft Corporation 1:11:06
bbc.co.uk British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) 0:48:10
Mobile Subscriber Monthly Consumption of Content and Applications
M:Metrics Benchmark Survey: March 2008
US EU FR DE IT ES UK
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
Total mobile
subscribers (13+) 226m 224m 46.5m 49m 47m 34m 47m
Watched video 6.0% 9.2% 7.3% 6.2% 11.2% 12.8% 9.4%
Listened to music 7.4% 17.9% 16.1% 17.6% 14.7% 22.5% 19.9%
Accessed news/info via
browser 13.7% 9.5% 10.1% 5.7% 7.8% 7.2% 16.3%
Received SMS ads 19.2% 49.6% 63.5% 29.7% 53.9% 73.0% 35.4%
Played downloaded game 9.0% 8.3% 4.4% 7.3% 9.0% 11.4% 10.3%
Accessed downloaded
application 4.9% 2.9% 1.8% 2.6% 4.1% 2.5% 3.4%
Sent/received photos or
videos 23.0% 27.6% 25.0% 20.9% 32.0% 31.0% 30.2%
Purchased ringtones 9.2% 3.8% 4.1% 3.6% 4.0% 4.1% 3.2%
Used email 12.6% 8.6% 6.5% 7.2% 11.2% 9.1% 9.1%
Accessed social
networking sites 4.8% 2.8% 2.4% 1.3% 2.7% 2.5% 4.9%
Source: M:Metrics, Inc., Copyright © 2008. Survey of mobile subscribers.
Data based on three-month moving average for period ending 31st March 2008,
mobile subscribers in France, n = 12,941 Germany, n = 15,119;
Italy, n = 13,548; Spain, n = 12,434; United Kingdom, n = 16,192;
United States, n = 30,931;
"A primary factor in the discrepancy in the duration of time spent browsing
between British and American smartphone users is the relative popularity of
flat-rate data plans in the United States, where 10.9 percent of users have
an unlimited data plan versus only 2.3 percent in Britain," commented Paul
Goode, senior analyst, M:Metrics from the firm's London bureau. "Other
factors to consider are the popularity of devices with QWERTY keyboards in
the United States -- where nine of the ten top smartphones are QWERTY,
while the inverse is true in the UK -- and the greater penetration of
smartphones in the British market."
Even so, mobile social networking sites are running up the meters in the
United Kingdom. Each day they visited the site, Facebook users spent an
average of about 19 minutes, compared to an average of 15 minutes for
Microsoft Live visitors, 10 minutes for mobile operator 3's portal
visitors, 14 minutes for Sky TV and nine minutes for BBC visitors.
In the United States, on the days they visited each site, consumers spent
an average of 22 minutes on Craigslist, 29 minutes on eBay, 16 minutes on
MySpace, 14 minutes on Facebook and 18 minutes on Go.com.
This data is derived from actual user behaviors among those with Windows,
Symbian and Palm handsets. M:Metrics uses sophisticated on-device metering
technologies to capture the mobile browsing and messaging activities among
its panel of 3,500 smartphone users in the United States and the United
Kingdom. M:Metrics' MeterDirect is the world's first syndicated research
service reporting mobile media consumption using mechanical measures and
was launched in March 2007.
About M:Metrics
M:Metrics applies trusted media measurement methodologies to assess the
audience for mobile content and applications. As the world's most
authoritative mobile media measurement firm, M:Metrics delivers the most
accurate mobile market metrics through the world's largest monthly survey
of mobile subscribers as well as automated data collection methodologies.
Below are the findings of its March 2008 Benchmark Survey.
M:Metrics is the mobile media authority. As the only research firm to
measure the audience for mobile media, M:Metrics provides the most accurate
metrics on actual mobile content consumption by applying trusted media
measurement methodologies to the mobile market.
M:Metrics' monthly syndicated data service gives clients the critical
insights and intelligence required to inform smart business strategies and
the competitive benchmarks needed to evaluate the performance of
competitors and partners. M:Metrics is a private, venture-funded
corporation headquartered in Seattle, with offices in San Francisco and
London.