Report Says Seventy-five Percent of Internet Usage in 2017 Will Be Mobile

According to media buying agency Zenith forecast this week, seventy-five percent of internet usage in 2017 will be mobile. The number is up slightly from this year. This is due to an increasing number of consumers around the world that access the web on tablets and smartphones.

Zenith earlier projected that 71 percent of internet consumption would be mobile in 2016. It released its “Mobile Advertising Forecasts” report on Thursday. The report said 60 percent of global internet advertising money in 2018 will come from mobile advertising.

In 2018, mobile advertising spending will total $134 billion. This “is more than what will be spent on magazine, newspaper, outdoor and cinema advertising put together,” it said.

Zenith is a unit of French ad agency Publicis Groupe SA. The media agency had projected global mobile advertising expenditure to be $71 billion in 2016.

Brands are rushing to Facebook, Google and Snapchat where they can market to viewers. This is because more ad money shifts to the digital realm from television.

“In four years, you’ve gone from 40 percent to 70 percent (of total internet usage) in mobile,” said Scott Singer, a digital media executive and managing director of innovation consultancy firm DDG Inc.

Major shift of advertising to mobile

This trend is leading a shift in ad spending to mobile and fueling deals in the media, communications and entertainment businesses, he added.

The escalation of mobile data consumption, including video, is forcing telecommunications companies to merge content and digital distribution. They are waging that they can entice viewers to online video and other content that are transmitted over their internet and wireless networks. Furthermore, they can draw advertisers to grow ad revenue.

AT&T Inc said on Saturday it intends to buy media company Time Warner Inc for $85.4 billion to expand into content distribution. Verizon Communications Inc has offered to acquire internet company Yahoo Inc.

Both companies plan to leverage user data to assist marketers in delivering targeted ads.

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