More research on the audience for mobile advertising

Rating: the richer, older minority is neglected

By Annie Turner

Mobile media publisher MoMac has published its first Mobile Advertising Attitudes report (undertaken by Tickbox), supporting the launch of its GoSell mobile ad campaign management tool. (Well, at least they are upfront about that.)

MoMac’s research emphasises the need for mobile advertising to match specific audience requirements (nothing new there).
The Mobile Advertising Attitudes Report surveyed a cross section of 1,400 UK mobile phone users during May 2007. It found:

• many as 13% of 16 to 24 year olds have already responded to or clicked-on a mobile advert – which is something of a surprise, given the limited inventory currently available for mobile advertising, and the relative rarity of mobile users being served mobile ads. The ensuing argument, though, that the figures show the potential for a significant future take-up ignores the novelty factor.
• when on mobile sites, text-based advertising links are the most popular (56%) with a female bias of 60% compared to 47% of men.
• banner-based advertising was the second most popular option, favoured by 29% overall and just under one in three 25 to 34 year olds.
• video-based advertising has a male bias with 22% of men (12% of women) stating they would be most likely to respond to a video advert. Video formats were also more popular with younger mobile users, selected by 23% of 16 to 24s, but by only 12% of over 55s.
• the ad-funded model could become dominant with younger mobile users, with 47% of 16 to 24s preferring to access content for free in exchange for viewing advertising (again, nothing new in this, after all Blyk’s imminent entirely ad-funded service and Virgin Mobile USA’s very successful incentive scheme works on this basis). Only 32% of this group opted for a pay-as-you-download (PAYD) model and only 3.9% stated they would want to pay for content via subscription.
• The PAYD method is more popular with older mobile users, with 55% of those aged 45 and older opting to pay for content on demand, and this also appeals more to women, with 54% choosing this model, compared to 41% of men who are more open to advertising.
Perhaps by the time you clear 45, you realise there’s no such thing as a free lunch and would rather pay for what you want than have to put up with stuff you don’t? The over 45s is too often a neglected sector – bearing in mind, we also have considerably more disposable income than the under 24s, and for those who went to college and are still paying off the student loan, probably for those under 35.

MoMac’s research was conducted as part of the preparation for the launch of its GoSell mobile advertising platform. See www.creation.uk.com/services/websites/gosell/ for details.

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