Canadians have lost the top position for spending the most time on Internet, according to a new report by a leading measurement firm, comScore.

The firm presented Monday the "2013 Canada Digital Future in Focus," its annual report on how the prevailing trends in web usage, online video, digital advertising, mobile, social media and e-commerce are defining the current Canadian marketplace.

The report says an average Canadian Internet user was online for more than 41 hours per month in the fourth quarter of 2012 and that pushed Canada to the second place in terms of global Internet usage. In 2011 and 2010 Canadians spent an average of 45.3 hours and 43.5 hours per month respectively.

Canadians were also placed second globally for highest online video watching and number of videos per viewer. Canadian Internet user spent an average of 25 hours in a month for watching about 300 online videos.

comScore also found that digital ad market is growing strongly in Canada, with 724 billion display ad impressions last year. It is up by 17 percent year-over-year, whereas the social media, entertainment and portal sites continue to account for the highest share of impressions.

The report says that subscriptions for Internet-enabled devices such as smartphones are rapidly growing in Canada. The mobile market grew by 17 percent last year with Android-based handset accounting for 40 percent of the mobile market shares.

When it comes to Canadians' engagement with social media, Facebook, as expected by many, maintains its strong lead in the category. Twitter followed by Tumblr, Pintrest and Instagram are all seeing strong visitor growth rates.

Major industry verticals like e-commerce and online banking are experiencing growth in the digital channel. Retail e-commerce reached $22.3 billion dollars sales in Canada last year, up by 10 percent in 2011. While Canadian using mobile and desktop for online banking has also experienced growth by 33 percent last year.

To report problems or to leave feedback about this article, e-mail:

To contact the editor, e-mail: