Enpocket, the leading mobile marketing solutions provider, has unveiled the findings from its first US Mobile Media Monitor. The quarterly analysis from Enpocket Insight helps marketers and network operators understand the changing patterns of mobile usage and provides actionable data for customer use with the Enpocket Engine.
The latest results show very encouraging results for US mobile data services. More than one third of US mobile owners are now using text messaging (SMS) on a regular basis and 8% use picture messaging or MMS regularly.
The results are even more promising for use of advanced data and content services, demonstrating that US mobile users are embracing mobile data services as rapidly as Europeans, where these services have been available years longer. For example, US mobile Internet usage only trails UK usage by 3% and mobile games are 2% lower and downloading standard ringtones are 5% behind.
More than one third of mobile users are actively using text messaging (or SMS) – a total of 38 million texters in the US. Text messaging is equally appealing to mobile users of all incomes, but is biased to the young – 57% of 18-25 year old mobile owners are SMS users.
Picture messaging (or MMS) has one quarter the penetration of SMS – 8% of mobile users (9 million adults) have used the service in the last 3 months, peaking at 21% for the 18-25 age group. This result seems to show that the US carriers have been successful at promoting MMS in favor of SMS. Compared to the UK, where both technologies are more established, MMS has only reached one-fifth the penetration of SMS.
MMS usage is being driven by a rapid adoption of camera phones – 12% of US mobile owners have now taken a photo with their camera, skewed to a younger, male profile. 14% of men have taken a photo, and almost one in three (29%) of 18-25 year olds have used their mobile to take a picture.
After SMS, the most popular mobile media is downloading ringtones – 13% (14 million) of US adult mobile users have downloaded a standard ringtone in the last 3 months, and 8% (9 million) have downloaded a polyphonic tone. Surprisingly, given the adoption patterns of text and picture messaging, ringtone download is skewed to a female (15% penetration) audience and appeals to an older audience. 18 and 34 year olds exhibit little difference in behavior for standard ringtones, and polyphonic ringtones are equally popular up to age 49.
WAP (or mobile internet) usage has 12% penetration (13 million adults) among mobile owners – or one-third the penetration of SMS. Again this shows greater maturity than Europe, where WAP usage is only one fifth that of SMS.
Games downloads is a relatively new mobile media, and like MMS and WAP has seen more rapid uptake than older media such as SMS. Although only 4% of US adult mobile users have downloaded a Java or Brew game to their phone, UK penetration is not significantly higher at 6%. Games downloading is heavily skewed to young males and those with low incomes. 70% are male, 83% are under 34 and three quarters earn under $30,000.
Perhaps the youngest form of mobile media is the text-in promotion. Over the last 3 months, US phone users have begun to use their mobile phones to text in to a variety of traditional media:
2% have texted to a number on product packaging
1.6% have texted to a TV show
1.3% have texted to an advertisement of some kind
1.1% have texted to a magazine
0.7% have texted to a radio show
Commenting on the results, Jonathon Linner of CEO Enpocket said:
“Our research clearly shows the increasing reliance Americans have on their mobile phone as more than a voice communications device, but also as a medium for browsing and downloading content. Arming marketers and network operators with this type of detailed trend enables them to deliver and improve on the services that their customers actually want and use, generating greater brand loyalty and increasing customer satisfaction.”
53% of the adult population (or 110 million people) in the US now owns a mobile phone. Penetration is slightly skewed to men (56%), and peaks in the 35-49 age group where 69% are mobile owners. Mobile usage correlates strongly to income – only 30% of those earning less than $20,000 own a mobile, yet 79% of those earning over $75,000 have one.
The Mobile Media Monitor is a quarterly international study to monitor the changing consumption of mobile media. For more information about subscription to the survey, please contact mmm@enpocket.com
Phase 1 of the Mobile Media Monitor (US) survey was based on 1,000 telephone interviews undertaken by NOP World for Enpocket Insight in late April 2004, and relates to the period February 2004 to April 2004. The base was representative of US mobile phone usage.
