58 Percent of US Mobile Subscribers Do More Than Talk

M:Metrics has released its inaugural Benchmark Report, providing the first detailed data on the consumption of mobile content, the demographics of mobile media users and benchmarks for the performance of mobile operators in the USA market. Results from M:Metrics' primary research reveals that the market for mobile content and applications, while still young, includes the mainstream of mobile subscribers and spans gender and age groups. More than half (58%) of mobile subscribers use their handsets for something other than making phone calls. Key findings include:

-- There is no gender gap when it comes to mobile game play.

31% of female subscribers and 34% of male subscribers report having played a mobile game in the previous month. However, men are 60% more likely to download a game than women. "An analysis of the game catalogs of the five national mobile carriers provides a clue as to why there is such a disparity," said Seamus McAteer, M:Metrics co-founder and chief product architect. "Too many of the titles available for sale are action/adventure and sports games--genres that our data demonstrate are more likely to appeal to men."

-- Ringtones aren't just for teens.

While the majority of ringtones were downloaded by subscribers age 13-24, those over 25 years old accounted for 45% of all subscribers who downloaded ringtones. And more than 62% of those consumers downloaded more than one ringtone in the previous month. "The desire to make a personal statement with a ringtone appeals to a broad range of adult mobile subscribers," said Mark Donovan, vice president of products and senior analyst, M:Metrics.

-- Text messaging has wide appeal.

Over half--52%--of subscribers age 25-34 sent or received text messages in the previous month, while 37% of those age 35-44 communicated via text. Among younger subscribers texting is ubiquitous with 68% of those age 18-24 sending and receiving text messages. "Even older folks are getting into the act," observed Donovan. "Fourteen% of those over 65 use text messaging." Relative to its size, T-Mobile is the market leader in text messaging with more than half of its subscribers using the service.

-- Photo messaging is still a fledgling service.

More than 60% of subscribers who took a picture with their camera phone also sent a photo message to another phone or email address in the previous month. "The fact that people aren't just taking pictures, but starting to send them as well, indicates that operator enthusiasm for the service may be well founded," said McAteer. While the overall penetration of photo messaging is still low at 7%, Sprint has taken an early lead with 12% of its subscribers sending a photo to another mobile subscriber.

-- Mobile browsing is driven by context and time sensitive information.

In total, 13% of mobile subscribers reported accessing news and information via a mobile browser in the previous month. Marked gender difference characterized mobile browsing with 17% of men subscribers and 9% of women subscribers using their mobile phones to access news and other information. Browsing activity was driven by a need for context-sensitive information.

Over half of all browsers sought weather information (57%), and more than 40% of browsers accessed maps and directions (41%), sports scores and sports news (44%), national news (44%) and movie and entertainment listings (40%). When it comes to news and information on your mobile phone, subscriber propensity to consume has to do with who foots the bill. Those with corporate accounts or accounts that are otherwise subsidized by their employer are significantly more likely to use the browser on their handset to access that kind of data compared with subscribers who are personally responsible for their bill.

M:Metrics Benchmark Reports provide a monthly analysis of consumer consumption of mobile content and applications across nine key areas that are the foundation of the growing mobile medium.

                  US Mobile Subscriber Consumption of
              Content and Applications in Previous Month

 
                                             Projected Reach  %
                                                 (000s)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent or Received Text Message                      65,041        37.4%
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Received Text Message Alert                        14,538         8.4%
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent Photo Message to Phone or Email               11,761         6.8%
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Used Mobile Instant Messenger                      14,633         8.4%
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Used Mobile Email                                  24,175        13.9%
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Downloaded Mobile Game                              5,720         3.3%
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Downloaded Ringtone                                22,393        12.9%
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Downloaded Display Graphic                         10,860         6.2%
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Accessed News and Information via Browser          22,053        12.7%
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Source: M:Metrics, Inc. Survey of US mobile subscribers, quarter ending January 31st 2005, n=35,381. Data for photo messaging, ringtones and graphics downloads for two months ending January 31st 2005, n=23,209.

In addition to Benchmark Reports, subscribers to M:Metrics Syndicated Mobile Market Measurement Service receive continuous access to the largest source of independent data on the mobile medium including subscriber consumption data, detailed technology profiles of close to 400 mobile handsets and access to universal catalog tracking data on the titles of content and applications distributed by the top five national wireless carriers in the U.S.

"Companies in the media, entertainment and wireless industries are making multi-million dollar bets on the mobile market and until now, they have been making business decisions without the basic consumer data taken for granted in other media," said Will Hodgman, CEO, M:Metrics. "The mobile phone represents the largest media platform without a measurement standard, and M:Metrics is the first company to apply time-tested, large-scale media measurement methodologies to the sector."

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Posted to the site on 8th March 2005