75 Mobile Statistics to Get You Amped for 2020

More people are on mobile than ever before, and the numbers aren’t going anywhere but up.

Statistically, at least half of the people reading this article are doing it from their phone.

Every time we take a ride on a bus or a train, we witness a sea of phones lighting up the faces of commuters.

But how pervasive are they, really?

And how are they affecting your marketing strategy?

This resource gives you 75 recent mobile statistics, organized into four categories:

Table of Contents (Click to Navigate to Each Mobile Statistics Category)

• Mobile Usage (Including Mobile vs. Desktop) Statistics
• Mobile Advertising & Marketing Statistics
• Mobile Purchase Behavior Statistics
• Mobile Social Media Usage Statistics

Mobile Usage (Including Mobile vs. Desktop) Statistics

Before we dive into how mobile usage may be affecting your business’ marketing, advertising, or social media efforts, it’s worth learning exactly how pervasive mobile really is in the world today.

These 20 statistics examine global mobile adoption and internet usage as well as what all those people are doing with their time.

• In 2019 there are 5.11 billion unique mobile users globally, that’s up 100 million since last year. (Source)
• There are estimated to be 10 billion mobile devices currently in use (that means multiple mobile phones per person). (Source)
• There are 14 million jobs which are directly tied to the mobile device industry. (Source)
• 81% of Americans own a mobile device, up 35% from 2011. That’s 265 million people. (Source)
• That compares to 765.1 million active mobile internet users in China (only 55% of their population). (Source)

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• American adults spent, on average, 3 hours and 23 minutes per day on their mobile phones in 2018. (Source)
• 47% of American mobile device users say “they couldn’t live” without their devices. (We hope that’s hyperbole). (Source)
• That said, 66% of mobile users are (in some way) addicted to their phones, with 6% showing signs of nomophobia. (Source)
• 71% sleep with or next to their mobile phone, and 75% use their mobile phones in the toilet. (Source)
• 20% of people say they would rather go without shoes for a week than their phones. (Source)
• 55.1 million internet users accessed the internet exclusively through their mobile phone, a 10.6% growth year-on-year. (Source)
• Mobile devices make up 42% of total time spent online. (Source)
• 58% of all website visitors accessed that website from a mobile phone in 2018. (Source)
• Email is the most popular internet activity from a mobile device, with 59% of mobile users engaging in it. (Source)

Here are the most popular activities for mobile users (dark blue is mobile, light blue is tablet)

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• 52% of total time spent on the internet is from mobile devices. (Source)
• More than 50% of all YouTube views come from mobile devices. (Source)
• More 18-14-year-olds in America are watching YouTube during prime time (just on their phones) than are watching the top 10 prime-time shows combined. (Source)
• 89% of mobile media time is spent on apps, with only 11% spent on websites. (Source)
• Mobile apps have better engagement rates than websites (even mobile-optimized website). (Source)
• Consumers are estimated to download more than 258 million apps by 2022. (Source)
• There are 20 million registered developers addressing the 500 million weekly visitors to Apple’s App Store. Unofficial estimates for Android put it higher than Apple. (Source)
• The top three mobile apps used by millennials are Amazon, Gmail, and Facebook. (Source)
• If a page doesn’t load in less than three seconds, 53% of mobile users will abandon it (bounce). (Source)
• Mobile travel apps (from AirBnb to Uber) reached 85.8% penetration in 2018. (Source)

Mobile Advertising & Marketing Statistics

Now that you have a better understanding of just how massive mobile usage is around the world, and a grip on what we’re doing with them, let’s take a look at how mobile affects your advertising and marketing efforts.

Mobile Advertising Statistics

• 63% of all digital ad revenue in 2018 came from mobile advertising. (Source)
• 92% of Facebook’s advertising revenue (making up the mass majority of its total revenue) comes from mobile (Source)
• In 2018, mobile Google Search Ad spend grew 38% year over year, while desktop spend grew only 21%. (Source)
• The cost-per-click for mobile ads is 24% less than that of desktop ad campaigns, and they have a 40% higher CTR. (Source)

Below is an example from a business looking to pivot their online advertising strategy.

They poured money into mobile search advertising to see if the CPC was more affordable.

Here are their results:

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• In Q4 of 2018, there was a 12% lift to total online Google search ad conversions from mobile devices – approximately twice that of desktop search. (Source)
• 55% of Google search ad clicks came from mobile devices in Q4 2017 (but only 14% of Bing ad clicks). (Source)
• Results from an eye-tracking study showed that YouTube mobile ads receive 83% of viewer attention while TV ads receive only 45%. (Source)
• The same study showed that TV viewers were more than twice as likely to multitask during an ad break than YouTube ad viewers. (26% vs. 12%). (Source)
• In Q4 of 2018, 83% of all Facebook ad spend went to ads served on mobile devices. (Source)
• Location-based (that means mobile) advertising can be 20x more effective than regular, generic, banner ads. (Source)

Mobile Marketing Statistics

• 51% of prospective consumers say they use their mobile phones or tablets to discover new brands and research products. (Source)
• 80% of mobile users are more likely to purchase from businesses with sites or apps that address their questions from their phones. (Source)
• A positive mobile experience with a brand will make 89% of people more likely to recommend that brand. (Source)
• A negative mobile experience, on the other hand, makes people 60% less likely to purchase from that brand ever again. (Source)
• Mobile access problems are the #1 reason for 40% of users to visit a competitor’s website. (Source)
• Since 2018, the average mobile conversion rates have gone up 64% when compared to the average desktop conversion rate. (Source)
• Mobile video viewing hit 1.87 billion in 2018, an 11.7% increase from 2017. (Source)
• 75% of all email opens occurred on a mobile phone (in the US). In contrast, only 29% of email opens occur on desktop. There is an even more drastic difference for people aged 18-24:

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• Despite 75% of their prospective customers opening email on their phones, only 39% of companies use mobile-responsive email templates. (Source)
• Mobile sales are responsible for more than 40% of revenue, on average, according to leading B2B organizations. (Source)

Mobile Purchase Behavior Statistics

So now you understand how mobile usage affects your advertising and marketing strategy, but are mobile users buying?

And, if they are, how are they using their mobile devices, and what’s impacting their purchase decisions?

The mobile statistics below cover purchase behavior:

• In 2018, mobile devices were used in over 33% (or more than $1 trillion) of U.S. consumer purchases at some point in the buying process (research, price comparisons, and purchases). (Source)
• A 2017 study found that 46% of respondents prefer to use their mobile devices for the entire buying process. (Source)
• In the last six months, 79% of mobile device users have made a purchase online using that mobile device. (Source)
• Users may spend 59% of their time on mobile, but only 15% of online purchases are made from their mobile devices. This means your prospective customers may be researching on mobile, but still buying on desktop or in-person. (Source)
• 73% of consumers will leave a poorly-designed mobile site to a competitor’s site that makes purchasing easier. (Source)
• 66% of mobile users say they are more likely to buy from businesses with mobile sites or apps that personalize based on their location. (Source)
• There was 150% growth between 2015 and 2017 on mobile in searches ending with “to avoid.”  There was 80% growth in searches for “is X worth it,” a 55% increase in searches for “ideas” and a 150% increase in searches for shopping lists. (Source)

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• Most mobile buying experiences includes approximately six visits to an app or mobile site, and at least three categories like search, shopping, or social. (Source)
• 46% of mobile shopping experiences include at least one switch between mobile site and the desktop site. (Source)
• 80% of brick-and-mortar shoppers use their mobile devices at some point in the buying process (for instance, to see if your in-store price matches what they can find online). (Source)
• 70% of mobile users say they have bought something in-store that they researched using their mobile device. (Source)
• Delaying your website visitor’s experience of your site by even a single second can drop conversion rates by 7%. (Source)
• 77% of all traffic on Shopify’s stores came through mobile devices in In Q3 of 2018. (Source)
• 69% of consumers aren’t willing to use mobile in-store payments, citing security concerns and a lack of perceived benefits as the primary reasons. (Source)
• Approximately 40% of all e-commerce purchases made in the 2018 holiday season were made on a mobile device. (Source)
• 94% of online shoppers still prefer other forms of payment, compared to mobile wallets. (Source)

Mobile Social Media Usage Statistics

It’s clear from the statistics above that mobile devices are having a massive influence on how we buy (both online and off).

But when we’re not buying, what are we doing?

After all, American adults are spending 3 hours and 23 minutes per day on their mobile phones.

They can’t be buying shoes the entire time, can they?

No, they’re on social media.

You probably expected that…

Here are the most important statistics to know about mobile social media usage:

• 91% of all social media users access social platforms from mobile devices. (Source)
• Out of 3.499 billion total social media users, 3.429 billion accessed a social media platform from their mobile devices. (Source)
• 51.7% of American social media users will exclusively access social media platforms from their mobile devices in 2019. (Source)
• 80% of the total amount of time we on social media sites occurs from mobile devices (Source)
• Mobile social media usage has penetrated 70% into the Eastern Asian populations, compared to 61% penetration in North America. (Source)
• In the UK, there are 39 million mobile social media users as of January 2019.
• Users scrolling through Instagram in an internet minute hit 347,222 in 2019. (Source)
• Instagram’s mobile reach has penetrated 46% into the U.S. (Source)
• Instagram users are 70% more likely to make an online purchase (any online purchase, not just via Instagram) on their mobile devices than non-users. (Source)
• Instagram users are the most likely social media platform users to say they use social media to research brands and products (at 44%). (Source)
• 83% of Instagram users say the platform helps them discover new products or services, and 80% say it helps them decide whether to buy. (Source)
• Facebook Messenger is the most downloaded Android app in the US (as of March 2019), with 4.65 million downloads:

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• 60 billion messages are sent through Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp every single day. (Source)
• 60% of LinkedIn traffic comes through mobile devices. (Source)
• 47% of American internet users prefer to use Facebook for its news feed feature, while in comparison only 6% stated similar preferences in use for Instagram (though that could be a reflection of platform usage):

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Conclusion

Now you know what all those people on the bus or train are doing.

Increasingly, we live our lives through our phones. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad is up to you.

But as a marketer or advertiser, (or just a citizen of the world) it’s essential to know how pervasive mobile phones are in our day-to-day.

We spend three and a half hours on them every day of the week – checking email, scrolling through Facebook, researching products, catching up with friends, and sharing our lives with our online communities.

Hopefully these 66 mobile statistics have given you a better understanding of the influence of mobile devices and (for marketers) how they can be leveraged to drive business success.