As smartphone use spreads, mobile Internet usage time continues to increase.
Significantly increased use among 20s, 30s women.
HDYMP Institute of Media Environment Fixed-point Media Survey 2013

Hakuhodo DY Media Partners Institute of Media Environment has conducted Fixed-point Media Survey 2013, an analysis of the relationship between sei-katsu-sha and the media. The Institute of Media Environment is based in Minato-ku, Tokyo and directed by Hiroshi Yoshida.

Survey results for the Tokyo region show that daily media usage for the four types of mass media and two types of Internet media (namely, personal computers and mobile telephones, including smartphones) combined is an average 5 hours 53 minutes (weekly average), which is about the same as last year. This suggests that daily media usage has reached a saturation point within overall lifestyle time, as it has changed little since 2010.  

In recent years, Internet connection time via personal computers and mobile phones (including smartphones) has been increasing, but this year mobile phone Internet connection time was 50.6 minutes, nearly ten minutes more than the 40.4 minutes recorded last year, an increase of 25.2%. At the same time, like last year Internet, connection time via personal computer decreased, suggesting that as smartphone use increases, people are switching from personal computers to mobile phones when connecting to the Internet.

The increase in Internet connection via mobile phones was especially pronounced for women in their 20s and 30s. Connection time for women in their 20s increased from 67. 8 minutes to 119.9 minutes, an increase of 52.1 minutes and 76.8% over the previous year. Connection time for women in their 30s increased from 45.3 minutes to 73.9 minutes, an increase of 28.6 minutes and 63.1% over the previous year.

Smartphone ownership was 45.0%, an increase of more than 10 points over the 31.0% recorded last year.

The smartphone functions people used most were “send mail”, “search”, “phone call”, and “camera”, but “watch videos”, “use communication apps”, “use SNS, mini-blog”, “games”, and the like was higher than “phone call” among users in their 10s.

Moreover, 48.6% of respondents use their smartphones while watching television. Given that the increasingly rapid growth of smartphone use is expected to continue, we can conclude that information and entertainment design that fuses the mobile phone with existing media will become even more important.

This survey has been conducted continuously since 2004 for the purpose of finding out how sei-katsu-sha interact with media as it becomes more and more digitalized and a steady stream of new hardware and services appear on the market and for the purpose of discovering trends that are shaping the ad media market. The Institute of Media Environment will continue its efforts to improve communication planning and media effectiveness by monitoring changes in the media environment and uncovering the signs that point to the next-generation of advertising.