Brand advertisers who may have previously thought that it was not worth their while to target mobile consumers should consider some of the latest findings available that show how more people are turning to smartphones and tablets for their online needs.

According to a July survey from Prosper Mobile Insights, a majority of mobile users are turning to smartphones exclusively for some of their web-based activities. The results indicated that more than 51 percent of respondents only access email from mobile devices and more than 45 percent conduct online searches from handheld technology.

The reliance of consumers on mobile technology means that more people are viewing and paying attention to advertising on mobile devices. The survey found that close to 43 percent are more likely to pay attention to mobile video ads over other types of ads for mobile technology. In addition, 10 percent paid attention to ads appearing before or during a video and close to 9 percent said they noticed all forms of video advertising.

"With consumers opting for mobile devices instead of computers for many online activities, marketers need to hone in on their targets in the traditional as well as the mobile ad space," Pam Goodfellow, Consumer Insights Director at BIGinsight, said in a statement. "Retailers need to know which types of ads their customers are most receptive to, as some may pay more attention to mobile banner ads, sponsored stories, and videos."

Overall growth of the mobile tech space
Not only are people becoming more likely to turn to mobile devices for media consumption and for going online, but people are also spending more money on mobile technology. According to Gartner, about 47 percent of all money that will be spent on technology in 2012 will go toward mobile devices and support, totaling an estimated $800 billion.

Plus, spending on mobile devices and technology is only expected to grow even further over the next four years, and Gartner anticipates spending on just mobile devices to total $300 billion by 2016.

"The three largest segments of the consumer technology market are, and will continue to be, mobile services, mobile phones and entertainment services," Amanda Sabia, principal research analyst at Gartner, said in a release. "There are two product classes, which in terms of absolute dollars are significantly smaller, but offer tremendous growth by 2016. These are mobile apps stores and e-text content. We fully expect consumers to more than triple their spending in these latter two categories by 2016."