ComScore: Mobile apps now account for more than half of all digital media time

"May turned out to be a banner month for mobile," research firm comScore noted, pointing to its new research showing that mobile platforms--smartphones and tablets--combined to account for 60 percent of "total digital media time spent," up from 50 percent a year ago. The firm also said that mobile apps accounted for more than half of all digital media time spent in May at 51 percent.

The firm noted that this shift to mobile is affecting different content categories differently. For example, full 96 percent of all digital radio is consumed through a mobile device, while just 4 percent is consumed on a desktop computer. On the other hand, social networking is slightly more evenly split, with 71 percent of users accessing it through mobile and 29 percent access it through a desktop computer.

"It's clear that mobile usage is a tidal wave that's completely transformed the way we consume digital content, particularly in just the past year or two. And we know that as eyeballs move to mobile, ad dollars will eventually have to follow suit," comScore wrote. "But this transition will be bumpy if the ad measurement and monetization infrastructure develops too slowly." Post