Increase in Britons using mobile internet

The mobile internet audience has a higher concentration of younger users than PC-based internet according to Nielsen’s research; 25% of mobile internet consumers are aged 15-24 compared to 16% for PC-based consumers. Whilst 23% of the PC-based internet population is 55+, only 12% of the mobile internet audience is.

Kent Ferguson, Nielsen senior analyst, said: “The first insights from the launch of Mobile Media View confirm two things – that when it comes to the internet, the huge growth is now happening through the mobile platform and that the mobile online audience is younger than its PC-based counterpart.

“The fact that almost seven and a half million Britons now access the web through their phone shows that mobile internet is fast becoming a viable way for advertisers and publishers to reach important demographic groups.”

However, a recent report from TNS found that mobile providers looking to boost their revenues through content downloads and advertising are in for a rough ride (see Ad-Averse Mobile Users Will Pay To Avoid Advertising).

TNS found that there is a growing number of consumers that are so averse to advertising that they are now willing to pay a premium in order to avoid it.

The Mobile Media View report also revealed that while Google search is the most popular PC-based internet site, BBC News is the most popular mobile site, being visited by 24% of British mobile internet consumers (1.7 million people).

Of the most popular mobile sites, BBC Weather (21% mobile, 17% PC-based) Sky Sports (11% mobile, 8% PC-based) and Gmail (9% mobile, 7% PC-based) have greater reach on mobile internet than they do on the PC-based internet.

Of the most popular mobile sites, Google search (23% mobile, 79% PC-based) and eBay (13% mobile, 43% PC-based) have the greatest reach differential between mobile and PC-based internet.

Ferguson added: “It’s interesting to see that BBC Weather, Sky Sports and Gmail are amongst the few sites that have a greater reach on the mobile Internet than the PC-based Internet. This highlights the advantage of mobile when it comes to immediacy; people often need fast, instant access to weather or sports news and mobile can obviously satisfy this, wherever they are.

“The fact that the most weather, sports, news and email sites make up the majority of leading mobile sites show that mobile Internet is mainly about functionality and need at the moment as opposed to the more entertainment and ecommerce-focused makeup of the leading PC-based sites.”

In October, Analysys Mason forecast that by 2013, 47% of European broadband subscriptions would use mobile networks and nearly a quarter of broadband-equipped sites would use mobile-only (see A Quarter Of Broadband Homes To Be Mobile-Only By 2013).