36% Of British Advertisers Have No Mobile-Optimised Websites

Over a third (36%) of the 100 leading British advertising brands (in terms of advertising spend) have not optimised their websites for mobile use, according to recent research from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB).

Despite the large number of brands lacking mobile-friendly websites, the percentage improved slightly compared with the study conducted six months ago, when it stood at 42%. Compared, however, to the 54% of advertisers in Italy, Spain, France and Germany who do currently have a mobile optimised site, the figures for the United Kingdom are less promising.

Responsive web design, on the other hand, is considered the most effective cross-channel approach for delivering a better user experience. In this area, Britain is leading in terms of adoption as figures from the study show that 24% of the top advertisers in the United Kingdom have a responsive website, which is almost double the numbers of other European countries, such as Spain (15%), France (13%), Italy (13%) and Germany (7%). The IAB research was conducted in February in collaboration with Kantar Media and studied the top 100 advertisers in five countries across the EU.

A separate survey by Econsultancy shows similar figures: 58% of the UK’s top marketers have a mobile-friendly website and 46% of them have adopted responsive design. It seems that mobile-friendly websites are extremely important for both brands and users, as 72% of companies polled say that mobile generates over 10% of their traffic – an increase from 52% of companies asked 2012. Also, participants in the study revealed that 19% of total traffic originates from mobile devices – an increase from 17% compared to the same period 12 months previously.