Mobile Content Purchases Prove Similar in Europe and America
The mobile content firm, Buongiorno has partnered with M:Metrics to outline a comparative analysis between European and American mobile usage trends. Mobile content consumption tends to be similar on the two sides of the ocean; however M:Metrics and Buongiorno report that these markets each have distinct nuances in mobile content usage.
3G usage and mobile videos
The data shows a direct correlation between 3G penetration and usage of these services, with Italy, Spain and the UK-the countries with the highest percentage of 3G subscribers-posting the highest numbers in consumption of mobile video and photo messaging.
According to M:Metrics, more than 15 % of UK 3G subscribers watched videos on their mobiles in January 2007. The mobile video market continues to grow, and is expected to generate 1.2 billion dollars at the end of 2006.
Specifically targeting this segment, Buongiorno launched in December 2005 the first interactive talk show and video community for 3G mobiles on football, Soccer Addicts, which has already been awarded with the Orange Grand prize for Innovation category at the MIPCOM 2006.
The trend also holds true in the usage of mobile music and full tracks. For example, in January 2007, 12 % of British, 10 % of Italian and 9 % of Spanish mobile subscribers transferred music to their mobile device, versus only 3 % of Americans.
Buongiorno has launched 3 Music Channel the first mobile music TV channel available for 3G mobile phones to the Italian market. It is a 3-hour looping schedule that includes: video-clips of the latest international hits, top charts with the most listened songs of the week plus special highlights on the different music genres, backstage and exclusive interviews to celebrities.
Buongiorno runs for Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM) its music store as well as the music stores for several operators worldwide.
Mobile content types
With the exception of text messaging, which is still far more common in Europe than it is in America, consumption of mobile content that does not require fast networks or high-end devices, is very similar across all the geographies M:Metrics measures. In fact, the United States outperforms most European geographies in the usage of mobile e-mail and instant messaging, but Europe and US are very similar for ringtones and graphics.
Mobile music is currently the largest sector of mobile entertainment (80 % of mobile music revenue come from ringtones). Buongiorno has just launched mytones in Italy (and soon in other EU countries), a brand new multimedia store (via wap and web) where customers can create and upload their original ringtones, promote them within their social network and get rewarded.
The analysis found that the most significant difference between American and European mobile content consumers is in the usage of MMS. In fact, between 20 and 31.5 % of Europeans mobile subscribers reported that they used network services for photos or videos, while only 14.7 % of Americans did.
There is (surprisingly) very little difference in the genres of news and information consumption but there is in the access method. EU5 prefer SMS alerts, US browsing."
Posted to the site on 27th March 2007