Mobile media and advertising market blossoms in Europe

As the media industry assembles in Venice this week for the Venice Festival of Media and in London for the Mobile Marketing Forum, M:Metrics reveals the demographics and size of the audiences for mobile media.

The measurement firm reports that young males are a juicy market for mobile advertisers, as among mobile phone users 36% of 18 to 34-year-old men accessed mobile media in February. Men in this age group are also highly receptive to SMS advertising, with 9% responding to an SMS advert they received, versus a 4% market average.

In Western Europe, the male population is more inclined to browse and download content on the mobile web: a quarter of all male mobile phone users accessed mobile media, compared to just under 19 percent of women. This audience is also young: 28% of 13 to 17-year-olds consume mobile media, while only 12% of those 55 and older do.

Reaching the 18 to 34-year-old age demographic is a real challenge to advertisers, as this group is spending less time consuming print and broadcast media. According to TGI M:Metrics data, in Great Britain, young consumers are redirecting that attention to mobile, as 18 to 34 year olds comprise 56% of mobile media users, compared to only 29% of TV viewers.

Figures below: mobile media usage, by gender, February, 2008     

Age Male FemaleTotal
13-17 32.6%24.3% 28.4%
18-24 38.5% 27.2% 32.9%
25-34 34.5% 23.7% 29.2%
35-4426.4%19.3% 22.9%
45-54 19.3% 13.3% 16.5%
55+12.3% 11.1% 11.7%

Figures below: mobile messaging usage by gender February, 2008   

Age Male FemaleTotal
13-17 85.6%92.7%89.2%
18-24 90.5% 94.6%92.5%
25-34 89.9%92.7%91.3%
35-4483.6%88.4%86.0%
45-54 74.9% 84.0% 79.3%
55+64.6% 73.8%69.3%

Source: M:Metrics, Inc., Copyright © 2008. Survey of mobile subscribers. Data based on three-month moving average for period ending 31st February 2008, mobile subscribers in EU, France,  n = 12,973 Germany,  n = 15,128; Italy, n = 13,599; Spain,  n = 12,446;  United Kingdom, n = 16,459.  

Mobile Messaging Audience defined as subscribers who sent one or more text messages in month.
Mobile Media Audience defined as subscribers who browsed or downloaded in any form in month.

Interestingly, US mobile users are more active consumers of mobile media, as, unlike Europeans, they use SMS less frequently for news and information retrieval and are more likely to have data plans, which directly impacts mobile content consumption. Among Europeans, the UK has the highest percentage of mobile media users, at 26.8 percent, while Germany and France lag, at 18.4% and 18.5%, respectively.

 

Table below: size of mobile audience: February 2008

FRDEITESUKUS
Total Mobile Subscribers
(aged 13+) in millions
46.549473447.5226
Mobile media audience 18.5% 18.4% 23.4% 23.5% 26.8% 27.3%
Mobile messaging
audience 
76.4%79.7%87.4%85.0%86.9%48.6%
3G penetration 16.2% 21.0% 37.2% 34.6% 24.2% 25.5%
Smartphone penetration 6.1% 8.6% 22.3% 14.9% 10.6% 6.4%

Source: M:Metrics, Inc., Copyright © 2008. Survey of mobile subscribers. Data based on three-month moving average for period ending 31st February 2008, mobile subscribers in France, n = 12,973 Germany, n = 15,128; Italy, n = 13,599; Spain, n = 12,446; United Kingdom, n = 16,459; United States, n = 31,348.

Mobile Messaging Audience defined as subscribers who sent one or more text messages in month.
Mobile Media Audience defined as subscribers who browsed or downloaded in any form in month.

It should be noted that, while advertising inventory is growing, not all mobile media users can be reached by advertisers at present. In Great Britain, mobile media is attracting a highly desirable audience that is 44% more likely to be defined as "˜cash rich, time poor "˜than the market average. In fact, data from TGI M:Metrics confirms that one third of all UK mobile media users agree they are tempted to buy products they've seen advertised.

Since the early days of mobile advertising, SMS advertising has been an effective way to reach the masses, but advertises are now actively looking at the mobile web to access new audiences. According to TGI M:Metrics, adding mobile to a media plan increases the efficiency of reaching key target groups, a metric that will continue to improve with the growth of 3G and
smartphone ownership.