Mobile accounts for approximately half of web traffic worldwide. In the last quarter of 2024, mobile devices (excluding tablets) generated 62.54 percent of global website traffic. Mobiles and smartphones consistently hoovered around the 50 percent mark since the beginning of 2017, before surpassing it in 2020. Mobile traffic Due to low infrastructure and financial restraints, many emerging digital markets skipped the desktop internet phase entirely and moved straight onto mobile internet via smartphone and tablet devices. India is a prime example of a market with a significant mobile-first online population. Other countries with a significant share of mobile internet traffic include Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya. In most African markets, mobile accounts for more than half of the web traffic. By contrast, mobile only makes up around 45.49 percent of online traffic in the United States. Mobile usage The most popular mobile internet activities worldwide include watching movies or videos online, e-mail usage and accessing social media. Apps are a very popular way to watch video on the go and the most-downloaded entertainment apps in the Apple App Store are Netflix, Tencent Video and Amazon Prime Video.

In January 2025 mobile devices excluding tablets accounted for over 62 percent of web page views worldwide. Meanwhile, over 75 percent of webpage views in Africa were generated via mobile. In contrast, just over half of web traffic in North America still took place via desktop connections with mobile only accounting for 51.1 percent of total web traffic. While regional infrastructure remains an important factor in broadband vs. mobile coverage, most of the world has had their eyes on the recent 5G rollout across the globe, spearheaded by tech-leaders China and the United States. The number of mobile 5G subscriptions worldwide is forecast to reach more than 8 billion by 2028. Social media: room for growth in Africa and southern Asia Overall, more than 92 percent of the world’s mobile internet subscribers are also active on social media. A fast-growing market, with newcomers such as TikTok taking the world by storm, marketers have been cashing in on social media’s reach. Overall, social media penetration is highest in Europe and America while in Africa and southern Asia, there is still room for growth. As of 2021, Facebook and Google-owned YouTube are the most popular social media platforms worldwide. Facebook and Instagram are most effective With nearly 3 billion users, it is no wonder that Facebook remains the social media avenue of choice for the majority of marketers across the world. Instagram, meanwhile, was the second most popular outlet. Both platforms are low-cost and support short-form content, known for its universal consumer appeal and answering to the most important benefits of using these kind of platforms for business and advertising purposes.

As of January 2024, mobile phones accounted for 87 percent of web page views in Nigeria. Vietnam ranked second, with mobile devices generating approximately 86.5 percent of web traffic. Belgium, Portugal, and Canada, saw less than 43 percent of their national internet traffic coming from mobile devices. Additionally, Japan ranked last for mobile internet traffic as of the beginning of 2024 - 37.6 percent of the total internet traffic in the country came from smartphones and internet connected mobile devices.

As of the last quarter of 2023, 31.57 percent of web traffic in the United States originated from mobile devices, down from 49.51 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022. In comparison, over half of web traffic worldwide was generated via mobile in the last examined period.

In 2023, the majority of website traffic was still generated by humans but bot traffic is constantly increasing. Fraudulent traffic through bad bot actors accounted for 57.2 percent of web traffic in the gaming industry, a stark contrast to the mere 16.5 percent of bad bot traffic in the marketing segment. On the other hand, entertainment, food and groceries, and financial services were also categories with notable percentages of good bot traffic.

According to a study focusing on travel and hospitality websites worldwide, mobile users accounted for most online visitors to such web pages in 2024. That year, mobiles generated 70.5 percent of all the online traffic in the travel and hospitality market. That said, in 2024, the average conversion rate of travel and hospitality websites was higher among desktop users.

In November 2024, the majority of browser web traffic in the United States was generated via mobile phones. Additionally, traffic generated by laptop and desktop devices constituted a share of approximately 42.3 percent, while tablet devices accounted for 2.2 percent of the country's web traffic.

In 2023, most of the global website traffic was still generated by humans but bot traffic is constantly growing. Fraudulent traffic through bad bot actors accounted for 32 percent of global web traffic in the most recently measured period, representing an increase of 1.8 percent from the previous year. Sophistication of Bad Bots on the rise The complexity of malicious bot activity has dramatically increased in recent years. Advanced bad bots have doubled in prevalence over the past two years, indicating a surge in the sophistication of cyber threats. Simultaneously, simple bad bots saw a 6 percent increase compared to the previous year, suggesting a shift in the landscape of automated threats. Meanwhile, areas like entertainment, and law & government face the highest amount of advanced bad bots, with more than 78 percent of their bot traffic affected by evasive applications. Good and bad bots across industries The impact of bot traffic varies across different sectors. Bad bots accounted for over 57.2 percent of the gaming segment's web traffic. Meanwhile, almost half of the online traffic for telecom and ISPs was moved by malicious applications. However, not all bot traffic is considered bad. Some of these applications help index websites for search engines or monitor website performance, assisting users throughout their online search. Therefore, areas like entertainment, food and groceries, and financial services experienced notable levels of good bot traffic, demonstrating the diverse applications of benign automated systems across different sectors.

In December 2023, 79.19 percent of web traffic in Saudi Arabia was through mobile phones. This corresponded to a growth of 3.4 percent compared to the year before. Around 19.67 percent of the web traffic in the Kingdom was through laptop and desktop computers.

The statistic shows the share of data center traffic in 2017. 77 percent of all data traffic took place within the same data center.

In December 2023, mobile devices generated approximately 60 percent of the web traffic in Panama. Meanwhile, 38.7 percent of the Central American country's web traffic came from desktop computers. According to forecasts, about three million Panamanians were expected to be mobile internet users by 2024.

In February 2024, mobile devices accounted for approximately 54.56 percent of total web pages served to web browsers in Slovakia. Desktops' share amounted to 43.79 percent, while tablet devices represented only 1.59 percent of web traffic.

Laptop and desktop computers accounted for more than 52 percent of the web traffic in Japan in December 2024. While mobile phones accounted for about 45 percent of the web traffic, tablet devices made up a much smaller share.

As of February 2025, video apps accounted for around 76 percent of global mobile data usage every month. Second-ranked social networking accounted for eight percent of global mobile data volume. The two categories, though, can easily overlap, as users can watch videos via video applications, as well as on social networking applications. Most popular social media platforms with video content Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram were among the most popular social networks in the world, as of October 2021. Each of these platforms allow to post, share, and watch video content on a mobile device. One of the fastest growing global brands, Tiktok, is also a social media platform where users can share video content. In September 2021, the platform reached 1 billion monthly active users. Leading types of mobile video content in the U.S. The United States was the third country in the world based on the number of smartphone users as of May 2021, with around 270 million users. Therefore, mobile content usage in the country was one of the highest in the world, and a big part of it was video content. As of the third quarter of 2021, more than 80 percent of survey respondents in the United States reported watching YouTube on their mobile devices. Social media videos were the second most popular type of content for mobile audiences, with almost six in 10 respondents watching videos on social media platforms like TikTok and Twitter.

In December 2023, mobile devices generated nearly 68 percent of web traffic in Guatemala. Meanwhile, almost 31 percent of the country's internet access came from desktop computers, as tablets accounted for approximately one percent during the examined month.

According to data collected in the first half of 2021, five leading tech firms accounted for more than half of global data traffic. Google accounted for around a fifth of global data traffic, with its share including traffic driven by its subsidiary video platform YouTube. Google is followed by Facebook with a share of around 15 percent, while Netflix accounts for around 9 percent of traffic.

In June 2024, mobile phones generated more than 67 percent of the web traffic in Chile. Meanwhile, web traffic via desktop computers reached 32 percent, while tablets accounted for less than one percent during the examined month.

As of December 2024, mobile phones had the largest percentage of web pages served to web browsers, accounting for over 59 percent of web traffic in South Korea. Laptops and desktop computers followed with around 40 percent, while tablet devices only generated less than one percent of online traffic.

Accounting for more than a 80 percent of desktop visits to the Amazon.com website, the United States was the country with the highest traffic to the American online marketplace as of April 2024. Following the United States, with a large difference, was India with only just over one percent.

As of January 2025, mobile phones accounted for approximately 55.88 percent of total web pages served to web browsers in Romania, which increased roughly by 3.4 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. Tablet devices represented only 0.73 percent of web traffic.