ComScore (http://www.comscore.com), which “measures the digital world,” has launched Device Essentials, a new service reporting on digital traffic by device, which includes computers and other devices, defined as mobile phones, tablets, music players, e-readers, gaming devices, and other web-enabled devices.
Based on comScore’s global Unified Digital Measurement (UDM) data, which utilizes census-level information from tagged web page content, Device Essentials includes comScore’s first publicly available data showing device activity by connection type and device category. It sheds light on traffic patterns by device across geographies.
One of the most rapidly emerging digital traffic trends occurring across many countries is the impact of the iPad and other tablets. In comScore’s below of 13 countries covering five continents, the iPad is currently the dominant tablet device across all geographies, contributing more than 89% of tablet traffic across all markets.
The iPad’s contribution to total non-computer device traffic is highest in Canada (33.5%). Brazil has the second highest non-computer device share of traffic coming from the iPad at 31.8%, although non-computer devices account for less than 1% of total traffic in the country. In Singapore, where non-computer devices comprise nearly 6% of total traffic, the iPad accounts for 26.2% of this traffic.
While Android tablets significantly lag behind Apple in the U.S. tablet market, the platform actually bests Apple in the smartphone space (35.6% vs. 23.5%). iPod touches contribute a notable percentage of non-computer device traffic across most countries, while other devices such as e-readers and gaming systems contribute only a very modest percentage.
Another important dynamic of device traffic is the division between access over mobile networks and access via WiFi/LAN networks. ComScore analyzed the differences in traffic patterns between iOS and Android devices to understand these splits by network access, with the results showing that iOS phones and tablets sourced a significantly higher share of device traffic from Wi-Fi networks than Android devices.
In the smartphone market, 47.5% of iPhone traffic occurred over Wi-Fi networks compared to 21.7% of Android phones. With respect to tablets, an overwhelming 91.9% of iPad traffic occurred over Wi-Fi networks compared to 65.2% among Android tablets.