India's Internet Usage Is Growing...Quickly

India's Internet use increased by 33 percent last year even as the medium's global growth rate slowed by two points to about 8 percent.

The numbers were presented Monday in part of Mary Meeker's 20th annual Internet Trends Report and at a conference run by Silicon Valley venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, where Meeker is a partner.

Meeker, who first made a name for herself as a Morgan Stanley analyst in the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s, now sees a $25 billion opportunity in U.S. mobile advertising, where marketers haven't caught up with consumption trends.

Of the $50 billion total spent last year on digital advertising, only about $13 billion was devoted to mobile, yet "media consumption" was equally divided between the Internet and mobile.

The report said print remains "over-indexed," claiming only about 4 percent of all "media consumption" last year, but 18 percent of total advertising dollars.

Related Link: 3 ETFs To Watch After India Rate Cut

India is on-track to become the second-largest Internet market in the world, according to the report, which said the number of Internet users in China increased 7 percent last year, and by just 2 percent in the U.S.

Smartphone subscription growth presents a broadly similar picture, with India increasing 55 percent.

The number of phone subscribers grew 21 percent in China and by 9 percent in the U.S. last year.

In the U.S., the average person currently spends 5.6 hours daily engaged with digital devices, including 2.8 hours on smartphones, according to the report.

That compares with an average five years ago of 3.2 hours, including 0.4 hours on smartphones.

Gone from the latest report, however, is the assertion made by Meeker in 2012's version that smartphone users may use their devices 150 times per day.

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