UK mobile web audience 1/5th the PC-based audience

Marketers in the UK may want to pay a bit more attention to mobile web surfers. According to new research from comScore, the mobile web audience has grown to one-fifth the size of traditional PC-based surfers.

by Kristina Knight

The report, researched by both comScore and Telephia, found that 5.7 million users were browsing via mobile devices in January of this year. Approximately 30 million users logged on from PCs in the same time period.

Who are these mobile browsers?

“Similar to the Internet 10-15 years ago, men under the age of 35 are the early adopters of new technology and more likely to use mobile devices to access the Mobile Web than women or men aged over 35, ” said Bob Ivins, managing director of comScore Europe.

More than 60% of mobile web users in the UK are male. The demographic also skews young, with 67% of male users under age 35 logging on via mobiles in the UK, compared to 39% of PC-based users. In the UK, only about 54% of PC-based users are male and only 39% are under the age of 35.

"We expect Mobile Web usage to grow as phone performance improves, sites optimise their content for the small screen and operators fine tune their tariffs, enabling consumers to take full advantage of mobile phone capabilities, content and convenience,” said Ivins.