Mobile Apps Now Account for Over Half of All Digital Media Time [Chart]

A new ComScore report reveals that May delivered some huge mobile milestones. Mobile platforms – smartphones and tablets – combined to account for 60% of total digital media time spent, up from 50% a year ago. Mobile apps accounted for more than half of all digital media time spent in May, coming in at 51%.

Internet Radio Leads Categories Generating Majority of Activity from Mobile
An analysis of the leading content categories (based on those with at least 10 billion minutes of total engagement in May) showed which have seen the most pronounced shift to mobile. Digital Radio, led by category leader Pandora now generates more than 96% of its total engagement from mobile devices. Meanwhile the Photos category, with key players such as Instagram and Flickr leading the way, also attracted 96% of its activity from mobile. Other categories getting at least 90% of their engagement from mobile include Maps (thanks to Google Maps, Apple Maps, and others) and Instant Messengers (led by Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber and others).

Social Networking: Huge Category Experiencing Huge Shift to Mobile
The #1 category in terms of overall digital engagement accounting for 20% of total digital time spent, social networking now generates more than 70% of its activity on mobile.
● Total mobile engagement on social has grown 55% in the past year
● Social networking on mobile has accounted for 31% of all growth in total internet engagement in the past year
● Social is the home of the #1 mobile property, Facebook, which accounts for 24% of all mobile time spent. The primary Facebook app accounts for 18% on its own.


What’s Next in Mobile?
As eyeballs move to mobile, ad dollars will eventually have to follow suit. But this transition will be bumpy if the ad measurement and monetization infrastructure develops too slowly.

ComScore says it has several new innovations in store that will help media companies and advertisers improve the delivery and monetization of mobile ads.

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