LONDON — A new study into Britain's online habits has found that users now average 43 hours a month, or one in every 12 minutes of their lives, in front of a computer screen.
The Internet Advertising Bureau’s Digital Ad Spend report noted that data show that 22 percent of the 43 percent is spent on entertainment in the U.K. and that content on mobile network is skyrocketing. (The U.K., according to leading adult entertainment processors, ranks as the worldwide No. 2 market leader in the consumption of porn entertainment.)
“Nothing illustrates the Internet as an entertainment platform better than the fact that over one in five minutes online is accounted for by entertainment, and that advertisers spent almost 1,300 percent more on mobile video than a year ago," said Tim Elkington, director of research and strategy at the Internet Advertising Bureau. "With smartphone penetration crossing the two-thirds landmark and the successful roll out of 4G, 2013 could be the year when advertising spend on mobile crosses the £1 billion threshold.”
Simon Davies, sales director for Microsoft Advertising and Online in the U.K., told The Drum, a marketing news resource, that mobile advertising is steaming ahead, making up for 20 percent of the entire digital display market.
"As brands test the waters of new advertising formats across these emerging growth areas, the industry needs to listen carefully to consumer demands and learn from each other’s successes and failures," Davies said. "It’s up to us now to understand the continuing evolution of consumer digital behavior in order to fully utilize the opportunities available.”