medialifemagazine.com
U.S. taking lead in phone web access
By Heidi Dawley
Sep 5, 2008 - 1:06:44 AM
When it comes to accessing the internet through phones, Brits have long led the world, but that looks set to change.
A new study reports that Americans are increasingly using their cell phones to surf the web. So much so, in fact, that they are set to take the lead as early as this month.
“It will be interesting to see how the U.S. market will grow. We think that it will carry on growing and getting bigger and bigger, while the UK will probably grow but not as fast,” says Sarah Keefe, the study's author and vice president of marketing for Bango, a mobile web analytics and technology company that provides web access to mobile sites.
But it's not likely the U.S. will hold that lead very long as other, less-developed markets shoot forward.
Says Keefe: “The really interesting growth areas are India, China and parts of the Far East where there are huge populations. They are buying phones like there is no tomorrow and using them for internet access.”
According to Bango’s data, the UK accounted for 19.35 percent of global traffic accessing the mobile web through Bango in July, with the U.S. right behind at 18.8 percent. India was at 10.82 percent, South Africa 8.82 percent, and Indonesia 4.08 percent.
“Sitting here in Western Europe it is hard to believe,” says Keefe, “but in India 90 percent of internet users use the internet on their phone while only 10 percent use it on a PC.”
That's so because in developing countries like India landline facilities have traditionally been unreliable, so when mobile telephones came along consumers were extra quick in adopting them, entirely bypassing telephone connections to the internet.
Also, there are relatively few home computers, so the far cheaper phones became the primary tool for going online.
Britain’s early lead has been driven by several forces. One surely is Britons' love of their phones. Heavily into personalizing their phones with unique ringtones and the like, they were quick to turn to the mobile web as a source for such things.
Also, UK mobile network operators gave content providers a bigger slice of money from online purchases, and as Keefe notes, “This provided a big incentive for content providers to do good marketing and attract people."
Britain also got an early boost because operators early on introduced flat-rate data charges, what Keefe calls "all you can eat” plans allowing users to browse for a fixed price each month.
The U.S. is catching up in part because it's following the British model more and more by offering flat-rate plans to consumers and a bigger slice of money to content providers.
There's also what Bango calls the iPhone effect. That's the huge ad push the device has gotten for its internet capabilities. That's driven owners of other kinds of phones to investigate whether they too could connect to the internet, and they found that in many cases they could.
The last factor is size. Size does count when it comes to markets, and as Keefe notes the U.S is five times the size of the UK.
***
Meanwhile, in online ratings for the week ended Aug. 24, according to Nielsen Online, Google claimed the top spot among parent companies, followed by Microsoft, Yahoo, Time Warner and News Corp. Online. For the 13th straight week, the top five brands were Google, Yahoo, MSN/Windows Live, AOL Media Network and Microsoft.
Experian Group Limited retained the top advertiser spot for the seventh straight week with 3.63 million impressions, followed by Netflix at No. 2 with 1.83 million. With 14.91 million ads served, Yahoo was again the top advertising site, well ahead of No. 2 MSN at 2.46 million.
Sessions per person per week were up one from the previous week to 17, and domains visited per person rose one to 41. PC time per person was up 2 percent compared with the previous week to 18 hours and 11 minutes.
|
Top 25 parent companies
Through Aug. 24 |
|
#
|
Parent
|
Unique Audience (000)
|
Reach %
|
Time Spent per Person (hh:mm:ss)
|
|
1
|
Google
|
93,334
|
66.8
|
0:41:43
|
|
2
|
Microsoft
|
88,417
|
63.2
|
0:50:20
|
|
3
|
Yahoo!
|
81,656
|
58.4
|
1:09:21
|
|
4
|
Time Warner (Division*)
|
60,192
|
43.1
|
1:17:51
|
|
5
|
News Corp. Online
|
45,377
|
32.5
|
0:43:39
|
|
6
|
eBay
|
33,490
|
24.0
|
0:48:49
|
|
7
|
InterActiveCorp
|
30,356
|
21.7
|
0:13:36
|
|
8
|
Apple Computer
|
24,245
|
17.3
|
0:33:42
|
|
9
|
Amazon
|
24,142
|
17.3
|
0:13:11
|
|
10
|
Wikimedia Foundation
|
22,405
|
16.0
|
0:11:23
|
|
11
|
Walt Disney Internet Group
|
22,244
|
15.9
|
0:29:21
|
|
12
|
Turner Network (Division)
|
21,235
|
15.2
|
0:19:36
|
|
13
|
Landmark Communications
|
21,129
|
15.1
|
0:12:45
|
|
14
|
Facebook
|
20,811
|
14.9
|
0:44:26
|
|
15
|
New York Times Company
|
20,152
|
14.4
|
0:09:05
|
|
16
|
CBS Corporation
|
19,718
|
14.1
|
0:11:40
|
|
17
|
AT&T Inc.
|
18,982
|
13.6
|
0:22:19
|
|
18
|
CraigsList
|
15,308
|
11.0
|
0:36:07
|
|
19
|
RealNetworks, Inc.
|
14,231
|
10.2
|
0:16:40
|
|
20
|
Verizon Communications
|
14,160
|
10.1
|
0:17:04
|
|
21
|
Comcast Corp.
|
12,674
|
9.1
|
0:37:23
|
|
22
|
Glam Media
|
12,138
|
8.7
|
0:14:38
|
|
23
|
United Online
|
12,019
|
8.6
|
0:24:45
|
|
24
|
E.W. Scripps Company
|
11,765
|
8.4
|
0:06:05
|
|
25
|
Bank of America
|
11,532
|
8.3
|
0:23:12
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online
Note: The parent level is defined as a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs owned by a single company or division.
|
|
Top 25 brands
Through Aug. 24 |
|
|
Parent
|
Unique Audience (000)
|
Reach %
|
Time spent per person (hh:mm:ss)
|
|
1 |
Google
|
85,163
|
60.9
|
0:29:57
|
|
2 |
Yahoo!
|
80,708
|
57.7
|
1:09:37
|
|
3 |
MSN/Windows Live
|
71,710
|
51.3
|
0:50:13
|
|
4 |
AOL Media Network
|
53,815
|
38.5
|
1:24:10
|
|
5 |
Microsoft
|
50,787
|
36.3
|
0:16:39
|
|
6 |
Fox Interactive Media
|
39,267
|
28.1
|
0:45:50
|
|
7 |
YouTube
|
37,947
|
27.1
|
0:29:07
|
|
8 |
eBay
|
27,562
|
19.7
|
0:50:33
|
|
9 |
Apple
|
24,245
|
17.3
|
0:33:42
|
|
10 |
Wikipedia
|
22,287
|
15.9
|
0:11:23
|
|
11 |
Facebook
|
20,811
|
14.9
|
0:44:26
|
|
12 |
Amazon
|
20,491
|
14.7
|
0:12:05
|
|
13 |
Weather Channel
|
18,753
|
13.4
|
0:13:31
|
|
14 |
Blogger
|
18,685
|
13.4
|
0:06:25
|
|
15 |
Ask Search Network
|
16,886
|
12.1
|
0:11:50
|
|
16 |
CNN Digital Network
|
15,641
|
11.2
|
0:18:39
|
|
17 |
Craigslist
|
15,246
|
10.9
|
0:36:15
|
|
18 |
AT&T
|
14,562
|
10.4
|
0:25:12
|
|
19 |
Real Network
|
14,231
|
10.2
|
0:16:40
|
|
20 |
About.com
|
12,791
|
9.2
|
0:03:58
|
|
21 |
Glam Media
|
12,138
|
8.7
|
0:14:38
|
|
22 |
Bank of America
|
11,045
|
7.9
|
0:23:31
|
|
23 |
Comcast
|
9,979
|
7.1
|
0:45:42
|
|
24 |
Disney Online
|
9,445
|
6.8
|
0:37:24
|
|
25 |
Chase
|
9,011
|
6.4
|
0:14:08
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online
Note: The brand level is defined as a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs that has a consistent collection of branded content. |
|
Top 25 advertisers
(excludes house ads)
Through Aug. 24 |
|
#
|
Company
|
Impressions (000)
|
|
1 |
Experian Group Limited
|
3,629,181
|
|
2 |
Netflix, Inc.
|
1,830,661
|
|
3 |
Scottrade, Inc.
|
1,404,449
|
|
4 |
Verizon Communications, Inc.
|
1,381,045
|
|
5 |
General Motors Corporation
|
974,508
|
|
6 |
AT&T Corp.
|
753,591
|
|
7 |
United Online, Inc.
|
680,708
|
|
8 |
Deutsche Telekom AG
|
678,404
|
|
9 |
InterActiveCorp
|
629,406
|
|
10 |
Citigroup Inc.
|
550,096
|
|
11 |
DirectBuy
|
507,115
|
|
12 |
Sprint Corporation
|
501,244
|
|
13 |
Ford Motor Company
|
474,035
|
|
14 |
Apollo Group, Inc.
|
426,961
|
|
15 |
Monster Worldwide, Inc.
|
406,720
|
|
16 |
Dell Computer Corporation
|
403,392
|
|
17 |
National Council on Problem Gambling
|
403,119
|
|
18 |
Target Corporation
|
377,941
|
|
19 |
American Express Company
|
362,421
|
|
20 |
E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corp.
|
350,285
|
|
21 |
The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.
|
345,014
|
|
22 |
FreeScore.com
|
309,223
|
|
23 |
Nike, Inc.
|
301,815
|
|
24 |
Washington Mutual, Inc.
|
298,297
|
|
25 |
Toyota Motor Corporation
|
295,626
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance
Note: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance service estimated online advertising expenditures account for CPM-based image-based advertising. All reported estimated expenditures and impressions do not account for the following placement types: text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream ("pre-rolls") players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns. AdRelevance currently does not report estimated spending for paid search advertising. Also, Nielsen Online, AdRelevance reporting data reflects advertising activity served on pages accessible via the World Wide Web and not within AOL's proprietary service. |
|
Top 25 advertising sites
(excludes house ads)
Through Aug. 24 |
|
|
Company
|
Impressions (000)
|
|
1 |
Yahoo!
|
14,914,740
|
|
2 |
MSN
|
2,456,858
|
|
3 |
Comcast.net
|
1,551,191
|
|
4 |
MSNBC
|
1,549,667
|
|
5 |
MySpace
|
1,450,533
|
|
6 |
NBC
|
1,214,906
|
|
7 |
Facebook
|
1,196,480
|
|
8 |
AOL.com
|
1,097,931
|
|
9 |
FOXNEWS.COM
|
529,286
|
|
10 |
IMDb
|
514,610
|
|
11 |
The Weather Channel
|
502,872
|
|
12 |
eBay
|
479,514
|
|
13 |
NeoPets
|
416,782
|
|
14 |
ESPN.com
|
388,979
|
|
15 |
Project Playlist
|
343,400
|
|
16 |
Juno
|
330,734
|
|
17 |
Photobucket
|
315,443
|
|
18 |
CNBC
|
311,091
|
|
19 |
CNN
|
308,143
|
|
20 |
YouTube
|
268,191
|
|
21 |
Amazon
|
256,091
|
|
22 |
NetZero
|
231,465
|
|
23 |
Pogo
|
230,774
|
|
24 |
The Weather Underground
|
226,895
|
|
25 |
AT&T Worldnet
|
214,704
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance
Note: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance service estimated online advertising expenditures account for CPM-based image-based advertising. All reported estimated expenditures and impressions do not account for the following placement types: text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream ("pre-rolls") players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns. AdRelevance currently does not report estimated spending for paid search advertising. Above data does not include any house advertising activity. Also, Nielsen Online, AdRelevance reporting data reflects advertising activity served on pages accessible via the World Wide Web and not within AOL's proprietary service. |
|
Average use
Through Aug. 24 |
|
|
Current Week
|
Last Week
|
% Change
|
|
Sessions/Visits per Person
|
17
|
16
|
6.25
|
|
Domains Visited per Person
|
41
|
40
|
2.5
|
|
PC Time per Person
|
18:10:53
|
17:48:20
|
2.11
|
|
Active Digital Media Universe
|
139,826,708
|
143,625,044
|
-2.64
|
|
Current Digital Media Universe Estimate
|
223,832,505
|
223,894,883
|
-0.03
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online |
© 2010 Media Life
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