Smartphones and Tablets Drive Nearly 7 Percent of Total U.S. Digital Traffic
iOS Accounts for Largest Share of U.S. Smartphone and Tablet Devices while Driving the Majority of Non-Computer Traffic — comScore Releases Report, “Digital Omnivores: How Tablets, Smartphones and Connected Devices …
Context & Ripple Effects
comScore's 'Digital Omnivores' report lands one day after AppleInsider's finding that the iPad now accounts for 97% of tablet traffic, and the two datapoints reinforce each other: iOS holds the largest installed base among U.S. smartphones and tablets while driving the majority of non-computer traffic. The syndication of the story to AppleInsider shows how closely the measurement numbers were being read as an Apple-vs-Android scoreboard.
The significance is that nearly 7 percent of all U.S. digital traffic no longer comes from computers at all — small in absolute terms in October 2011, but the first time comScore has quantified tablets as a distinct, measurable slice alongside smartphones.
First-order effects
- Publishers and ad networks now have a named benchmark — roughly 7% of U.S. digital traffic from non-computer devices — forcing mobile-formatted sites and campaigns out of the experimental budget and into baseline planning.
- Apple's position as the majority driver of non-computer traffic makes iOS the default first target for any advertiser or publisher allocating mobile spend.
Second-order effects
- Android's strategy of maximizing device reach comes under pressure to convert unit share into traffic share, since comScore's data shows reach alone is not yet translating into comparable non-computer usage.
- Measurement firms gain leverage: whoever defines the non-computer traffic metric becomes the arbiter brands use to price mobile inventory, raising the stakes for comScore's rivals to publish competing cross-device figures.
Third-order effects
- If the trajectory holds, digital audience measurement shifts structurally from PC page views to cross-device individuals, and media buying follows the device mix rather than the desktop web.
- Tablets carving out a distinct traffic category signals that connected devices will be planned against separately — a segmentation that reshapes how publishers package and sell audiences.
The trend: U.S. digital consumption is fragmenting beyond the PC, with third-party measurement firms like comScore becoming the scorekeepers of the smartphone-and-tablet shift.