US mobile media habits mature

NEW YORK: Increasing numbers of US consumers are using their mobile phones to enjoy media content, access information and buy products, a study has found.

InMobi, the ad network, and OnDevice Research, the insights provider, polled 1,055 mobile media users, and found they spent around 2.4 hours utilising these gadgets every day.

This could be compared with 2.35 hours for watching television and 1.6 hours for fulfilling tasks on PCs. More broadly, respondents dedicated nine hours a day to all forms of media.

Anne Frisbie, InMobi's managing director, North America, said: "We expect the trend of ever increasing media consumption on mobile devices to continue, and even accelerate as advances in mobile rich media deepens user engagement by offering a better overall user experience."

"Marketers are taking notice and are increasingly investing in mobile to target consumers where they are spending most of their time consuming media."

Among the current mobile media audience, 65% preferred this medium as it is "easy to use". A further 56% pointed to the fact wireless handsets are "always with them" as stimulating their uptake of this activity.

Similarly, this portability has encouraged simultaneous media consumption, with 70% of individuals viewing information through wireless handsets while in front of the television.

A 71% share of contributors regularly entered enquiries into mobile search engines, and 64% frequently logged on to the internet in the same way, the analysis added.

Typically, mobile media usage peaks in the early morning and early evening, and also generally occurs in "casual settings", like lying in bed, mentioned by 77% of consumers, and waiting for something, on 65%.

Women accessed their mobile more often than men, with 84% of females utilising them in bed, versus 70% of males. Totals here hit 40% and 26% respectively when out shopping.

Turning to mobile advertising, 59% of relevant interviewees agreed they had been influenced by such brand messages, falling to 57% for TV spots.

Moreover, some 53% of the active mobile audience have been introduced to a product through this channel, and 21% had purchased items from their phone.

In all, 59% of the mobile media community had also paid a bill, bought goods and services or engaged in another commercial activity on their phone, and InMobi predicted 71% would spend money via this route during the next year.

Data sourced from InMobi; additional content by Warc staff, 15 August 2012

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