1. Handsets get smarter
1 in 4 people in the UK now have a smartphone- that’s up 80% year-on-year. Over 6% of the UK population have an Iphone, and this is having a big impact on the way people use their phone, as 48% of mobile phone owners are using their mobile media.
2. PAYM overtakes PAYG for the first time
57% of people are on pre pay contracts, as opposed to only 42% on pay as you go contracts. This often gives consumers easier access to cheaper data and a perceived freedom to use their phones beyond just voice and text.
3. Unlimited usage continues to surge
The uptake of unlimited data plans has quadrupled over the last 2 years- and is up 135% year on year alone. Operators have made significant move towards offering unlimited data plans, which consumers appear to be making the most of.
4. Consumers are going mobile
1 in 3 people in the UK have accessed the mobile internet in the last month, and 29% have used an application. These sessions are no longer just snacking- Yahoo!’s recent Appetite study showed that 77% of mobile internet sessions are longer than 5 minutes.
5. Mobile usage is overtaking online
In many categories, consumers are spending longer on the mobile internet than they are online. In categories such as conversational media, directory/information websites and news/information websites on mobile than they are online.
6. Social networking is huge
The trend for consumers to spend longer on the mobile internet that on the fixed line internet is particularly apparent in social networking. Users are spending 41.1 minutes a day looking at Facebook on their mobile, compared to 31.6 online. Likewise, with Twitter, where consumers spend more than twice as long on mobile (19.8 mins) than on the fixed line internet (7.9 mins).
7. Budgets are starting to come onto mobile
We know that ad spend on mobile is growing- the market was worth £37.6m in 2009, up 32.2% year on year. This looks set to grow even more, when the IAB surveyed agencies, 73% agreed that mobile will be the fastest growing medium in the next 5 years.
8. Mobile commerce is here
There is huge potential for advertisers to tap into mobile as a transactional tool, and many players are already making the most of it. Mobile online payments through PayPal surged by 650% in 2009, and Ebay saw $500m sales through mobile in 2009 which they predicto to grow to $1.5bn in 2010.
9. The big guns are heating up the market
There have been some recent changes to the mobile marketplace which is putting mobile into the spotlight. Both Google and Apple have recently acquired adnetworks, Admob and Quattro respectively. The network operators are all investing in mobile advertising, and new technologies such as iAd are making mobile advertising a dynamic marketplace.
10. Measurement has improved
The recent release of Comscore GSMA MM figures is a real worldwide first with important implications for the mobile advertising market. All of the network operators have come together with Comscore and the GSMA to give data about exactly what people are doing on the mobile internet. For the first time, we know which sites people are using on the mobile internet and for how long- allowing advertisers to easily include mobile advertising as part of their media plan.
Sources: Comscore MMetrics 3 month average to March 10, Comscore GSMA MMM, Yahoo! Appetite.