comScore published a new report: 2015 US Digital Future in Focus, providing a year in review of the major shifts in digital consumer behavior that occurred in various online sectors, including mobile, social media, video, advertising, search and e-commerce. In addition, the report examines what insights can be gathered from these trends and what that means looking forward to the year ahead.
Here is a sample of the findings:
■ While most of the growth in digital media consumption over the past four years has occurred on smartphones (up 394 percent) and tablets (up 1,721 percent), these mobile platforms are not eating into aggregate time spent on desktop, which has still grown 37 percent over this time period. The digital media pie continues to get bigger and Americans engage with screens during more than ever before.
■ For the past few years, US smartphone penetration has been growing at approximately 10 percent per year, and reached 75 percent penetration of the mobile user base at the end of 2014. Although the growth in smartphone penetration has begun to see modest deceleration, at the end of 2014 it was still growing at an annual rate of 16 percent.
■ Total US retail digital commerce grew 14 percent in 2014 to $268.5 billion. Desktop-based e-commerce increased 13 percent to $236.9 billion, while mobile commerce jumped 28 percent to $31.6 billion.
■ Although mobile commerce is growing at more than twice the rate of desktop e-commerce, there is still a significant mobile monetization gap. Mobile now accounts for 60 percent of digital retail engagement as measured by time spent, but only 13 percent of dollars. As friction gets removed from the mobile purchase process, gains in sales can be expected to accelerate.
