The share of mobile Internet traffic has increased dramatically over the past decade. By 2021, mobile Internet traffic accounted for 55.56% of total global Internet traffic, or more than half.
Going back a decade, until 2011, this figure was only 6.09%. 5 years later, in 2016, the percentage of mobile traffic had already increased 7-fold, to 43.59%.
The fastest growth was in the early years of the decade and has since slowed considerably after massive adoption. The average annual growth rate of mobile traffic between 2011 and 2016 was 49.64%, compared to 5.22% between 2016 and 2021.
Mobile vs desktop traffic
The rise of mobile Internet traffic has resulted in a significant decline in Internet traffic from computers or desktop. In 2011, almost all Internet traffic was coming from computers (93.91%). In November 2016, mobile Internet traffic surpassed desktop traffic for the first time, representing 48.25% vs. 46.93% for the latter.
In October 2020, with the Covid-19 pandemic, Internet traffic from computers slightly exceeded mobile Internet traffic. The health crisis has indeed caused an explosion of home-based work and telecommuting. The consequence: more time spent on one’s computer and a little less time spent on one’s smartphone, as was the case in public transport for example.
Mobile Internet traffic in France
In France, the cell phone is the first device to connect to the Internet. The progression has been meteoric in the last few years, with more and more people equipped with a smartphone. According to Médiamétrie data, 37.4 million French people access the Internet every day with their mobile, compared to 22.6 million with a computer and 11.4 million with a tablet. 4 out of 10 Internet users only use their smartphone to access the Internet. According to the study L’année Internet 2020, 2/3 of the time spent on the Internet is spent on a smartphone.
Mobile Internet traffic is mainly linked to mobile applications, those of social networks of course, but other applications to relax are also on the rise. Game applications or pocket games have experienced unprecedented success in 2020, with 12.8 million daily players. The mobile is also used by French Internet users to buy. E-commerce figures for France show an ever-increasing share of purchases made from a smartphone. An important parameter to take into account when creating an online store and defining a digital marketing strategy.