Study Suggests Mobile Marketing Could Hit New Highs
Mobile marketing could reach new heights over the coming year, with research revealing that most consumers are aware of photo messaging applications and are willing to pay for them.
According to Cambridge University’s latest Mobinet Study, more than 80% of mobile phone users, from 15 different European countries, showed awareness of mobile messaging services, with a further two thirds saying they would be willing to pay extra for them.
The research also revealed the huge potential for revenue from the service, with 42% of those under the age of 19 claiming they would be willing to pay more than 60p per picture message. The findings will be welcomed by 3G mobile phone operators, which have suffered from a relatively slow take up and huge start up and marketing costs.
However, despite these positive indications only 5% of the mobile phone owners surveyed had actually used picture messaging in April 2003.
The report also revealed that SMS text advertising continues to grow, with more than half of mobile phone users claiming to have received a text ad, up 26% on last year’s study.
Advertisers considering the potential of next generation of mobile phones will eye the survey with interest, as it also reveals that the desire to purchase goods and services over mobile devices is limited. Just over a third of users said they would consider purchasing items such as concert tickets through their mobile phones.
Despite sluggish uptake levels of the new mobile phones, analysts have pointed to the huge success of SMS messaging as a signal of the growth to come in picture messaging.
Earlier this week the Mobile Data Association unveiled a common code of practice for premium rate SMS services that use short codes from mobile networks (see MDA Announces Common Short Codes For Mobiles).
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