Netbiscuits has published its inaugural People’s Web Report. The report offers an insight into consumer’s perceptions of mobile web use in 10 markets, including the UK, US, France, Germany, Brazil, India, Australia, UAE, S. Africa and China, based on research conducted among 5,000 consumers – 500 in each of the 10 markets – between March and May 2013.

The report reveals consistencies in global attitudes toward mobile web experiences. In particular, connection speed is the most important factor for 8 out of 10 global markets, with the exceptions being Australia and the UK. 61 per cent of consumers worldwide say a faster download of content would increase their satisfaction with the mobile web, while 33 per cent demand the same functionality of their mobile websites as they do of PC sites.

76 per cent of respondents said they would not bother trying to use a website that was not optimized for mobile. Of those, 32 per cent would not return to the website at all, but would  either give up or try a competitor website instead.

The report uncovered what Netbiscuits describes as “an extraordinary global appetite for the mobile web”, with almost half of all respondents spending between one and six hours accessing it each day. Over 25 per cent of respondents spend more than six hours on the mobile web each day, with 7 per cent engaging with the web for 12 hours or greater. (If these figures look, literally, unbelievably high, we guess it’s worth noting that the study includes regions, such as Brazil and China, where mobile is the primary, and often only, form of web access – Ed.)

China led the way in terms of usage, with 53 per cent of respondents spending six hours or more per day accessing the mobile web. Country-by-country analysis revealed that France spent the least amount of time accessing mobile content online.

Surprisingly, the study found that only 27 per cent of respondents would usually download an app when prompted to do so online, despite 75 per cent being exposed to these prompts. When browsing or searching for information on the mobile web, 79 per cent of respondents globally said they would prefer to have the option of using a mobile website, as opposed to 18 per cent who were happy just using native apps. These figures, no doubt, are music to Netbiscuit’s ears.

There’s more information about the report here.