The use of the mobile internet in Britain grew eight times as fast as the growth of the wired internet, according to the latest study from research firm Nielsen Online. Of course, the actual number of Britons surfing the wired internet is still overwhelmingly higher. The Mobile Media View report found that from Q2 to Q3 2008, the number of Britons using the mobile internet increased by 25 percent to 7.3 million from 5.8 million. By comparison, the number of Britons surfing the wired web is 35.5 million, up a modest 3 percent from Q2 to Q3. As expected, the report found that the mobile online audience is younger than its PC-based counterpart, with 25 percent of mobile internet consumers aged 15-24 years old, compared to 16 percent for PC-based consumers. Also as expected, there is a higher concentration of those 55+ surfing the PC internet (23 percent), than on the mobile internet (12 percent). This last figure—12 percent of those surfing the mobile web are 55+, however, surprised me; I’d expected lower.

Other Highlights:

— Mobile audiences are flocking to sites that can provide immediate information, or immediate access. Top ten sites in order include: BBC News, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Search, BBC Weather,  Facebook, Hotmail, BBC Sport, eBay (NSDQ: EBAY), Yahoo! (NSDQ: YHOO) Mail, Sky Sports, Gmail. BBC News is visited by nearly one in four British mobile internet consumers, or 1.7 million people.

— Three of the most popular sites, BBC Weather, Sky Sports and Gmail, actually have a greater reach on the mobile web than they do on the wired web. BBC Weather gets 21 percent of all mobile consumers as opposed to 17 percent on the wired internet; Sky Sports reaches 11 percent of mobile web surfers, compared to 8 percent PC based surfers; Gmail gets 9 percent of mobile consumers, and 7 percent of PC-based ones.

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