Australian’s continue to embrace the internet in increasing numbers, and mobile is the big mover.

Nielson Online Ratings recent report on the state of the online market in Australia provides some interesting figures that marketers might want to contemplate. For example, 89% of Australians are online, with 73% of us being active at least monthly. The gender split is pretty close to 50:50. Sixty per cent of internet users are over 35 years of age, reflecting the age profile of the country, so yes, you can market to a mature audience via the net. Since 2009 we’ve doubled the time that each of us spends online. We view more pages and are visiting the website of major retailers in much greater numbers.

And we’re browsing on the move. There was a 71% increase over 2011 in the number of people accessing the internet using mobile devices. Forty three per cent of men own a smartphone compared to 31% of women. And whilst there is a definite skew towards the 18-44 demographic, 22% of smartphone users are over 50, and 41% are over 40.

An unsurprising but key statistic is that smartphone ownership is much higher amongst higher income earners than low income earners.

The tectonic shift in media use continues, and as we noted last month, marketing managers are following the audience into the online world. What this current report reveals is the importance of taking mobile browsing. Do you deliver a web experience that works brilliantly on the small screen?