Data Monday: Mobile Is Entertainment

by December 10, 2012

Time spent on mobile devices is outgrowing time spent on the desktop Web and starting to encroach on TV time as well. Why? Mobile is the new screen for entertainment in our lives.

  • US consumers are spending 127 minutes per day in mobile apps, up 35% from last year. (source)
  • Desktop web usage actually declined slightly by 2.4% from 72 to 70 minutes. That means people are spending nearly two times more time in mobile apps than on the Web. (source)
  • Americans continue to spend more time watching TV than interacting with mobile devices watching between 168 to 290 minutes of television per day. (source,source )
  • But mobile devices and TVs actually go hand-in hand. Close to 40% of Americans now use their tablets or smartphones while watching TV at least once a day, and twice as many do it at least once a month. (source )
  • More than 39% of people use their smartphone at least once a day while watching TV, 62% say they do this multiple times a week and 84 percent do at least once a month. (source )
  • So what are Americans doing on their mobile phones (even when the TV is on)? Games were 43% of time spent in mobile apps while social networking accounted for 26% percent and more generalized "entertainment" was 10% of time spent. (source)
  • That's 79% of mobile app time spent on fun. Little wonder that mobile is the new entertainment.