Mobile advertising saw the highest advertising increase from Q3 to Q4 at 11 percent, according to new data from comScore. 

During its State of Digital Q4 2012 annoucement, a comScore executive pinpointed some of the important digital trends that impacted the last quarter of 2012, including how mobile is adding to the Internet audience and what people are doing there. The executive also discussed how consumers are engaging with mobile wallets.

?We can?t ignore Internet usage behavior continuing to grow with the adoption of devices beyond the PC such as smartphones and tablets,? said Tiffany Walker, senior director at comScore, Reston, VA.

?The trend is really that they are starting out using their smartphones, then they are switching to their PCs during the workday and they are finishing out their day with their tablets.

"So there is definitely a preference by device in terms of how people are using the devices that they now have.?

Shifting media landscape
With advertisers trying to capture consumers? attention during the busy holiday season, comScore reports that there was an 11 percent year-over-year growth in digital display ads during the fourth quarter.

In addition to the mobile growth, video ads were particularly strong, posting a year-over-year increase of 50 percent. ComScore also reports that 1.9 percent of time viewing videos online is spent watching ads compared to 25 percent on TV, suggesting there is an opportunity for publishers to better monetize online video with advertising.

Mobile shopping adoption helped drive the 14 percent increase in ecommerce reported by comScore for the fourth quarter.

Additionally, mobile is impacting how consumers are shopping, with comScore reporting that ecommerce sales were up 132 percent on Thanksgiving Day and up 96 percent on Black Friday - both days when consumers are typically spending time with family and are not close to a PC. However, because consumers have their phones on them, they are still able to squeeze in some shopping.

About 65 percent of smartphone subscribers performed mobile retail activities during the fourth quarter and 79 percent more are using PayPal than a year ago, according to comScore.

Digital wallets still unfamiliar
The company also found that Google Wallet users have higher average incomes and one in five mobile subscribers have purchased items on their phone.

ComScore expects that in 2013, half of consumers are likely to use digital wallets, which store a virtual copy of their credit card to facilitate a payment using their phone at a retail location.

Those who are using digital wallets today really reflect a typical tech-savvy, early adopter profile. They are young males with high income levels, with half of them identifying as tech-savvy.

Those who express that they are not interested in digital wallets are less likely to be using an iOS device, per comScore.

Among current digital wallet users, they are split between iOS and Android operating systems for their smartphones.

Other key findings include that the launch of the iPad Mini rivals that of the iPad 3 with more than 500,000 unique visitors the day of the pre-order.

?Half of consumers are unaware of digital wallets,? Ms. Walker said. ?Once that awareness and familiarity increases, we do expect more consumers to use them for their transactions.?

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York