The average household now owns 7.4 internet devices and four in 10 bought a tablet in the last year.

Smartphones are the most common internet-enabled device, at 1.7 per household, followed by laptops (1.3) and tablets (1.2), the YouGov poll of more than 2,000 consumers found.

Four in 10 households (40%) now own one tablet, one fifth (19%) have two, and 11% own three or more.

The latest Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) UK Digital Adspend report, conducted by PwC, found digital advertising hit a record £7.2 billion.

IAB chief strategy officer Tim Elkington said: "Advertisers are increasing their digital budgets to reach people as they go online through an increasing array of devices.

"It's a win-win for consumers, because digital advertising pays for the wide range of free online services they increasingly rely on in their daily lives, but don't necessarily want to pay much for."

The survey found the average Briton who is online is willing to pay a maximum of £1.53 a month for their email service, £1.33 to use search engines, £1.10 for video content, 92p for news websites, 88p for social media, 55p for online games and 52p for price comparison sites.

Just over half of people (51%) said banking and finance was the area of their lives that would be most affected without the internet or mobile phone, followed by keeping up with current events (42%), shopping (38%) and their relationships with friends and family (37%).

:: YouGov surveyed 2,090 adults online between March 16-17.