• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, October 22, 2012

New data from eMarketer indicates time spent on mobile devices is up even as the growth in time spent on the desktop Web slows. The research firm estimates the amount of time on mobile devices—excluding talk time—will grow 51.9% to an average 82 minutes per day, up from 54 minutes in 2011, and 34 minutes in 2010.

At the same time, time spent online on desktop and laptop computers, Internet-connected TV and other non-mobile devices will increase just 3.6% to an average of 173 minutes per day (almost 3 hours), compared to 7.7% growth in 2011 to 167 minutes.

The surge in mobile time spent is partly a result of starting from a small base compared to the more mature PC industry, and the rapid uptake of smartphones and tablets in recent years. The growing shift toward mobile devices has left some publishers, most notably Facebook, scrambling to ramp up mobile advertising to match usage.

Mobile will claim just 1.6% of U.S. ad spending this year though adults on average spend 11.7% of their media time with their phones and tablets. In that vein, the Mobile Marketing Association has made push to encourage advertisers to increase mobile ad spending to 7% of their ad budgets, based on a study it commissioned.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau this month announced mobile advertising had doubled in the first half of 2012 to $1.2 billion. eMarketer projects mobile ad dollars will total $2.6 billion in 2012 and reach $12 billion in 2016.