Wi-Fi users a growing opportunity for advertisers

Not only are US consumers accessing Wi-Fi hotspots more regularly, but they're doing more than just checking their e-mail once they're online, suggesting these Wi-Fi users are a growing opportunity for advertisers.

In a new report from JiWire titled Mobile Audience Insights, the mobile audience media company delved into Wi-Fi usage trends and came up with some interesting insights.

When looking specifically at the online audience in cafés and coffee shops, the report revealed that 38% of the café Wi-Fi audience has made an online purchase during their visit. The report also showed that consumers tend to use cafés and coffee shops as extended home offices, with 83% of users connecting locally in their own neighborhood. Additionally, 40% are business decision makers with management titles, 23% have c-level or VP titles and 44% are in small to mid-size businesses.

The report shows that mobile consumption of Wi-Fi is on the rise as consumers become increasingly mobile. The number of mobile devices accessing Wi-Fi hotspots grew by 79% in the first half of the year. The iPhone and the iPod Touch are the most popular Wi-Fi enabled mobile devices and collectively represent 97.8% of all mobile device connections.

The report is based on data from approximately 275,000 public Wi-Fi hotspots as well as a survey of 2,057 customers randomly selected in over 6,500 café locations across the US that used JiWire's Media Channel between April and June.