Tablet devices will generate more web traffic than smartphones by early 2013 and consumers find browsing websites on tablets nearly as engaging as on PCs, according to a study by Adobe Systems. The report examined how global website traffic and engagement differ when the visitor is on a tablet, smartphone or personal computer (PC).

The results indicate that tablets have become a channel very distinct from smartphones. While apps have proven a highly valuable and important component of a mobile strategy, companies would be well served to invest in optimizing mobile Web pages for the growing and affluent tablet demographic. Key report findings include.

The share of website visits from tablets grew approximately 10 times faster than the rate for smartphones in the first two years after market introduction and grew more than 300 percent in the last year. This rapid growth is driven by both higher rates of tablet shipments and a disproportionately higher number of website visits per tablet than smartphones.

Tablets’ share of website traffic will exceed smartphone traffic by early 2013 and reach 10 percent of total website traffic in 2014.

Although consumers consider the tablet website experience to be nearly as engaging as that of PCs, they use PCs to visit websites three times as frequently as tablets.

“As businesses rethink their digital experiences to include mobile strategies, tablets are emerging as the consumer device of choice,” said Brad Rencher, senior vice president and general manager, Digital Marketing Business, Adobe. “Digital CMOs are wise to take a mobile first approach to optimize their digital content and marketing initiatives with a focus on the tablet experience because the consumer demands it.”

This study significantly expands on the findings from the initial Adobe Digital Index report on the value of tablet users to retail companies released in January of this year, which suggested that in 2011 tablet users spent more per purchase than other online customers. This study analyzed 23 billion visits to the websites of 325 companies from the North America, Western Europe (Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom) and Asia (China, India, South Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand).