INSIGHTanalysis: Media Healthcheck – May 2009
At the start of the month, Magna forecast that US mobile advertising will grow to $229 million during the course of 2009.
Research from Brightkite and GfK Technology found that nearly four in 10 (38%) US mobile phone owners, and 59% of iPhone owners recalled seeing advertising on their phones in Q109 (see 59% of US iPhone owners recall seeing ads on their phones).
The report, based on a representative sample of 1,000 American adults interviewed by telephone, found that advertising awareness grew 10% quarter on quarter.
Elsewhere, a US report on mobile video found that the total number of live TV and video streams increased by 61% from Q4 2008 to Q1 2009.
The research, carried out by QuicklPlay Media between 1 January and 31 March 2009, showed that the total number of unique viewers increased by 11% from Q4 2008 to Q1 2009 (see US sees continued demand for mobile TV and video content).
May also brought with it the news that there has been a “phenomenal surge” in mobile data, with dongle data usage increasing by 4,125% in twelve months (see Mobile data enjoys “phenomenal surge”).
The Orange research revealed an explosion in data usage which has more than doubled on mobile handsets and dongles, bringing the monthly total to over 386 thousand gigabytes.
Closer to home, research from UK user experience consultancy Webcredible found that more than half (52%) of mobile phone users are now using the mobile internet with email and social networking the most popular activities (see Email and social networking most popular mobile internet activities).
Checking email and social networking were the most popular pastimes, with 39% of mobile internet users mostly using email and over 16% favouring social networking..
The IAB and PricewaterhouseCoopers revealed that UK mobile adspend was up 99.2% year on year in 2008, hitting £28.6 million (see IAB: UK mobile adspend hits £28.6m in 2008).
The research showed that paid-for-search advertising on the mobile internet accounted for £14.4 million, 50.2% of all mobile advertising spend, while mobile display advertising – which includes banners, text links, tenancies pre/post roll and in-game – accounted for £14.2 million in 2008, 49.8% of all mobile advertising spend.
Away from mobile, the IPA’s latest Trends in Television report revealed that TV put in another robust performance in the first three months of 2009, with average daily hours viewed standing at 3.96 hours for all individuals (see IPA Trends in Television report).
The report showed that the share of total television viewing taken by non-terrestrial channels now stands at 39.9%, compared with 39% in Q4 2008 and 38.1% a year previously.
There was less good news for US TV though, with revenue in the US television industry predicted to fall below the $20 billion mark this year, according to a report from BIA Advisory Services.
After six years with US TV revenue hovering between $20-22 billion, BIA said that 2009 will end at $17 billion in revenues, a 21.2% drop from 2007’s $21.5 billion (see US TV ad revenue to fall below $20bn mark this year).