GfK Data Shows Mobile Internet Behaviour

With the burgeoning smartphone market driving mobile internet usage, recent research shows a dramatic increase in sales of these items during the past year, analysts GfK NIS have revealed that the average smartphone user makes up to 24 web sites visits per day, and a vast majority of these are to traditional websites and not just mobile specific sites.

Mobile internet behaviour has been quantified for the first time thanks to a new research tool. Detailed insights on the mobile activity of over 200,000 mobile internet consumers in three European countries have already been produced, thanks to GfK Retail and Technology’s unique ‘Network Intelligence Solution’ (GfK NIS). The pioneering research method analyses mobile behaviour via operators’ IP traffic.

“NIS allows us to provide both mobile operators and the media industry with relevant and reliable information, enabling them to fully monetize mobile traffic for the first time” states Fredrik Hallberg, managing director of GfK NIS.

Source: GfK

Mobile internet activity naturally takes off in the morning and by 10am high traffic is visible. The peak occurs just before 4.30pm as people leave to return home from the workplace. The usage differs considerably during the day and sometimes even within the same hour. For example, 7.45am can have up to 30-40 per cent more traffic than 7.15am on the same day.

The NIS tool measures all websites visited using mobile internet regardless of the device; mobile phones, Smartphones, PC tablets and 3G Cards are all monitored.

The long tail of internet is obvious; the Top 50 websites only constitute about 40 per cent of all visits. In every country measured, the popularity of Facebook is consistently remarkable. GfK has identified a cluster where Facebook is almost the exclusive site visited. “At GfK we call these ‘Facebookies’,” explained Fredrik. “They currently account for between 10-15 per cent of all users and it will be very interesting to follow the development of this segment.”

While the emphasis on social networking sites such as Facebook is clear, what this means for the online marketing and sales of tyres remains to be seen.