A new survey by mobile ad network InMobi suggests people spend more time consuming media on their mobile devices each day than through any other channel.
The study, conducted in partnership with OnDevice Research, found Americans spent 2.4 hours -- out of a total of nine media-consuming hours each day.
That's more time than people spend watching TV (2.3 hours), consuming media on a PC (1:36) listening to music on a dedicated music player (1:30 minutes), or reading (43 minutes). The study also emphasized that users turn to mobile throughout the day. People were most likely to use mobile devices while in bed (77%), while watching TV (70%), while killing time (65%), and when spending time with family (43%).
The findings are a bit deceptive.
When it comes to watching TV, for instance, Nielsen found that as of the fourth quarter of 2011, the average American watches nearly five hours of video each day, 98% of which are on a traditional TV set. While the mobile video audience is growing, it stood at 33.5 million at the end of 2011 compared to 284.4 million watching on TVs.
The InMobi study also presumably doesn't count the time people spend on PCs in the workplace toward media consumption in a given day, otherwise it would likely total more than 96 minutes.
Among other findings, the research indicated that mobile advertising has a widespread impact on purchasing, with 59% of survey participants saying they are influenced by mobile ads, roughly on par with TV ads (57%) and ahead of PC-based ads (34%).
It's important to remember that the study was done by a mobile advertising company. A majority (53%) also said they had been introduced to something new via mobile or that mobile helped them find something nearby (50%). For a fifth (21%), mobile use ultimately led to a purchase.
In relation to gender differences, the report found women typically access their mobile devices more than men. The biggest differences are while in bed (84% vs. 70%) and while shopping (40% vs. 26%). The results were drawn from a second-quarter survey of 1,055 U.S. consumers, with a focus on those who use mobile media including native apps and mobile Web sites. It also included data from a survey of 1,435 Americans in the fourth quarter of 2011.
Who would have thunk that a survey conducted by a mobile ad network would come up with results like this. The good thing about the published results is that it begins to quantify just how different the sub-set of the population that the survey was drawn from is from the overall population, meaning that the published results can't be extrapolated beyond that sub-set.