The heaviest mobile internet users in Canada are younger and more diverse than the general population, but less than a third of them feel their purchase decisions are influenced by ads they see online.

That comes from Vividata’s Spring 2021 SCC Metrica Fusion Database, a fusion of insights from Metrica, the research firm’s digital consumer measurement panel, with its Survey of the Canadian Consumer (SCC).

The data reveals that 86% of Canadians 14 and over access the internet on a mobile device each week, spending an average 14 hours a week online via mobile. Seven in 10 spend 20 hours or less online via a mobile device weekly, while two in 10 spend between 21 and 29 hours and one in 10 spend more than 30 hours.

The research shows that “heavy” mobile internet users are more likely to be younger, with 53% of them under the age of 35 (by comparison, 31% of mobile internet users in general are under 35) and are more likely to be students and identify as BIPOC. On the other hand, light mobile internet users are likely to be older, with 57% of them over the age of 50, compared to 43% of mobile internet users in general.

Heavy internet users claim that online TV streaming has changed their main source of TV (67%) and listening to music (55%). These heavy users feel shopping online makes their life easier, and they are more inclined to share their opinions on products and services by posting online reviews.

In addition, 30% of heavy mobile internet users claim that advertising influences their purchasing decisions.

Search, instant messaging, email, and video streaming are consistently the top four mobile apps across all three mobile user segments, though messaging is more popular among medium and heavy users. Heavy users in general have the highest reach across most app categories and are the most likely to use apps that aggregate flyers or deals.

YouTube is the top video streaming app across all mobile user segments. It reaches 65% of heavy mobile users in an average month, followed by the Netflix app ,which reaches 27% of heavy users, and Amazon Prime, which reaches 11%.

The top audio streaming app across light, medium and heavy mobile user segments is Spotify, which reaches 35% of heavy mobile users in an average month. YouTube Music is at a distant second. Both apps provide ad supported versions that offer marketers another way to reach consumers on their mobile devices.