According to a new study from Harris Interactive, 35% of US adult mobile phone users are willing to accept incentive-based advertisements.
Harris says that of these adults, 78% say the best incentive would be cold hard cash, followed by free minutes (63%), free entertainment downloads (eg, ring tones, games; 40%) and discount coupons (40%).
The survey further reveals that over half (56%) of those who are at least somewhat interested in receiving ads on their mobile phone say they would prefer to receive them via text message, while 40 percent would like to receive them as a picture message.
Less than one-quarter of adults would choose to receive them as videos (24%), while others would have them transferred automatically to email (23%), as a voice message (22%) or something else (7%).
Just under three-quarters (70%) of respondents who are at least somewhat interested in receiving mobile advertising are also willing to provide information about themselves to their mobile phone provider in exchange for an ability to customize the service to their needs.
Among them, 30% are willing to receive the ads for the right incentive, while 20% would receive them if they have control to turn them on or off and 20% are willing to receive the ads if they can choose who the information is sent to.
Judith Ricker, president of the marketing communications research practice at Harris Interactive, said: “Historically, U.S. mobile phone users have been resistant to receiving mobile phone advertisements, but, according to our research, cell phone users are more willing than ever to receive advertising.
“To make their mobile campaigns more effective, advertisers should take note of how cell phone users are most interested in being contacted. Advertisements need to have a clear value proposition, be relevant and allow recipients to control how they are profiled.”
Laura Marriot, executive director of the Mobile Marketing Association, speaking at the recent GSM World Congress said that mobile advertising is set to take off this year (see Mobile Advertising To Take Off In 2007).
Meanwhile, in January, eMarketer released a report which forecast that mobile marketing and advertising in the US is set to grow massively, although it recognised the problem of consumer reluctance to accept advertising messages to subsidize their mobile content (see US Mobile Marketing To Grow In 2007).
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