Mobile technology has reached an incredibly high penetration in an exceptionally short amount of time with smartphones and tablets truly becoming the beating heart of content and commerce this year.
According to Frank N. Magid Associates' latest nationwide study, The Heartbeat of Connected Culture: Smartphones and Tablets, 74 percent of American mobile consumers now use a smartphone, and 52 percent of mobile consumers now use a tablet.
Double-digit percentage gains in device adoption — along with sticky and compelling content that has fundamentally changed the way Americans think about and consume media — have brought us triple-digit gains in a wide range of smartphone and tablet content activities, including video, games, and social media.
Mobile is the new TV with mobile video establishing itself this year as a mainstream activity: 44 percent of smartphone users and 61 percent of tablet users regularly watch video on their devices. And it's not just short clips and YouTube any more, as the study reveals 45 percent of smartphone viewers and 71 percent of tablet viewers now watch long-form TV, movie, and sports content on those devices.
"Consumers have made the clear leap into mobile long-form," says Andrew Hare, Magid Research Director. "Beyond just TV and traditional video consumption, however, the visual culture has taken over with the growth of Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Snapchat, and Vine showing consumers increasingly prefer to communicate through images and video."
Smartphones are becoming a force in the brick-and-mortar retail environment. An impressive two-thirds (66 percent) of users aged 18-34 now interact with retailers in-store on their smartphones. However, Magid's nationally representative consumer survey shows retailers and brands lag far behind consumer expectations for a mobile-enhanced shopping experience.
Ecommerce dollars are increasingly coming from tablets with the tablet emerging as a primary purchasing tool. Half (50 percent) of tablet users are regularly shopping online with their device, with an average annual e-commerce spend of $230 annually per user on tablet.
"Publishers, retailers, and brands need to understand this massive cultural shift and adapt how they choose to reach their audiences." says Tom Godfrey, Executive Director, Mobile Strategy at Magid. "Today's consumer is smarter than ever but drowning in data - presenting brands with an opportunity to streamline connectivity and provide trusted retail direction and intelligent technology for shoppers."
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