Mobile marketing in the EU5 countries UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy reached 100 million mobile phone subscribers via SMS ads, or about 44% of the total EU5 mobile subscriber base, according to comScore MobiLens data.
57M Mobile Subscribers Recall Web/App Ad
As noted above, SMS ads reached about 44% of the approximately 230.5 million mobile subscribers age 13 and up in the EU5 nations during the three-month average ending in September 2010.
In addition, 57.3 million mobile subscribers, or 25% of the total base, recalled seeing recalled seeing an ad on their mobile phone when browsing the internet or accessing an application.
Product/Service/Brand SMS Ads Most Recalled
The most common type of SMS ad recalled during the three-month average ending in September 2010 was product, service or brand information, which more than 60 million mobile phone owners received, equaling a 26% reach across the EU5 countries. While SMS advertising about products, services or brands had the largest reach, the response rate was the lowest at about 6%.
SMS ads for donations to charities and non-profit organizations reached 9.7 million people, and almost 12% of subscribers that received this type of SMS ad responded at least once during the three-month average ending in September 2010.
Coupons or discounts sent via SMS followed with a 10% response rate. Out of the 33.4 million EU5 mobile subscribers who received an SMS ad that promoted a contest, 7% responded.
Smartphone Owners Twice as Likely to Recall Web/App Ads
Smartphone owners accounted for more than half of the subscribers who received and recalled seeing web/app ads, with 50% of all 64.3 million smartphone users recalling seeing a web or app ad during the three-month average ending in September 2010.
The UK topped the ranking with nearly two out of three smartphone users having recalled seeing an ad while browsing or using an app, followed by French smartphone owners, of which more than half saw a web or app ad.
UK Leads Most Mobile Content Usage
The UK led the EU5 nations in most forms of mobile content usage tracked by comScore during the three-month average ending in September 2010. While 82.1% of all EU5 mobile subscribers sent a text message to another phone, 90.3% of UK mobile subscribers did so.
The UK also outpaced the other EU5 nations (and the overall EU5 average) in using an application excluding native games (32.9% compared to 26.2%), using a browser (38.1% compared to 27.7%), accessing a social networking site or blog (25.8% compared to 16.7%), and playing games (30.4% compared to 24.9%).
Spain led in listening to music (31.1% compared to 25.2%) and Italy led in smartphone use (34.4% compared to 30.2%).
Mobile Behavior Varies Globally
US mobile users do the most social networking, European mobile users text the most, and Japanese mobile users are the most connected, according to other recent comScore MobiLens data.
Out of the three markets, in June 2010 social networking/blogs reached the greatest percentage of mobile users in the US at 21.3%, followed by Japan at 17% and Europe at 14.7%. Europeans displayed the strongest use of text messaging with 81.7% sending a text message in June 2010, compared to 66.8% in the US and just 40.1% in Japan.
And mobile users in Japan were the most “connected” of the three markets, with more than 75% using connected media (browsed, accessed applications or downloaded content) in June 2010, compared to 43.7% in the US and 38.5% in Europe.
