comScore: Smartphones And Tablets Changing The Digital Landscape

ComScore has released is 2013 U.S Digital Future in Focus report, which looks at the digital landscape and how it is shifting, focusing on trends in online video, mobile, e-commerce, search, and social media. While the report has a lot of interesting things to say about how social activity, online video, and search are changing, one of the most interesting aspects are mobile devices, which are altering the way users interact with the digital world, creating a "multi-platform" landscape.

According to the report, smartphones led the way in 2012 mobile usage, having achieved 50-percent market penetration last year. Meanwhile, tablets also saw an increase in usage throughout 2012. Says comScore, this rapid increase in mobile device usage has fragmented the digital landscape, with the average everyday consumer now dividing his or her time between multiple devices.

Following in line with this is online video, which is growing as the average consumer expands beyond regular TV to include a variety of digital video content in their lives. As such, monetization of online video is picking up speed, with the research firm pointing out that YouTube made large updates to its advertising methods last year. Says the report, expect that online video advertisement will continue to ramp up throughout 2013.

Other areas of the report look at social media, which shows Facebook as dominating with 5 of every 6 minutes spent on social networks being specific to the company. Other social networks increased throughout 2012, however, including Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr. For search, Google was still top dog, with Bing coming in at #2. A shift was noticed, however, with last year showing the first ever signs of desktop-search usage decreasing as users gravitate to mobile devices and "vertical-specific" searches.

[via comScore]