Contrary to Popular Opinion, Mobile Isn't Killing Desktop Usage - and Might Be Stimulating It

What has been lost in the 'mobile is destroying desktop' meme is that they are not mutually exclusive, zero-sum rivals.

Mobile and desktop may be complementary, stimulating attention as users pivot between the two depending on what information or entertainment they seek. Yeah, that convergence thing keeps complicating matters,doesn't it. JL

Jack Marshall reports in the Wall Street Journal:

The share of overall consumption coming from mobile devices is growing, but desktop web usage isn’t dropping. In fact, it might be increasing.
People are increasingly accessing online content on mobile devices, but that doesn’t mean the desktop is in decline.
A theory sometimes bandied about the media industry says audiences are deserting desktops and “going mobile” instead. But actually, data from online measurement firms doesn’t seem to support that view, at least at the aggregate market level.
The share of overall consumption coming from mobile devices is growing, but desktop web usage isn’t dropping. In fact, it might be increasing.

comScore

According to data from comScore, for example, the overall time spent online with desktop devices in the U.S. has remained relatively stable for the past two years. Time spent with mobile devices has grown rapidly in that time, but the numbers suggest mobile use is adding to desktop use, not subtracting from it.
“The key thing to remember is that percentages are not zero-sum,” said Tony Haile, CEO of online analytics firm Chartbeat. “You can have mobile growing to 50% of your traffic and desktop traffic remaining healthy.”
According to Mr. Haile, mobile devices are actually “unlocking” new Web time in the morning and the evening, while desktop traffic remains dominant during weekdays.
In other words: mobile’s share of traffic is growing, but the overall pie is growing too.
That understanding has important implications for media owners and marketers, who often say they’re altering their sites and strategies to cater for their growing mobile audiences. It makes sense to optimize for mobile if that’s a large and growing audience, but mobile isn’t the only game in town. In fact, it seems desktop Internet use is here to stay, for the time being at least.