Dive Brief:
- According to eMarketer, smartphones and tablets account for 54% of connected devices in American homes.
- Smartphones lead the pack at 37% penetration, with desktops and laptops a close second at 28%.
- The data points come from comScore’s tracking of Wi-Fi routers from December 2015 to March 2016.
Dive Insight:
It’s a mobile-first world, that much is clear. From a creative standpoint, that means making things mobile-friendly with single columns, simple graphics, and tappable links instead of clickable ones.
eMarketers’ research found that around 216 million U.S. citizens will access the internet with mobile devices, desktops or laptops PCs monthly. It also reports that only 18.8 million will access the internet on a PC, a number that has been halved since 2014.
"Mobile is critical — Google has finally noted that more than half of searches are conducted on mobile, and this will only go up as computing becomes even more ubiquitous," Noah Jessop, head of data for Liquid PCH, told Marketing Dive. "The shift to mobile is only going to increase — and unprepared marketers will be left trying to catch up."
Marketers are finding the mobile channel a challenge. Troy Smith, president of Search Optics, told Marketing Dive that many marketers call themselves beginners at mobile marketing. "It seems that many businesses have not yet developed a truly mobile-first approach to digital marketing strategy," he said.