Almost 80 percent of mobile users actively use SMS on a regular basis in any one month in Western Europe. In an average month ending January, Italy and the UK are the most active with 88 percent and 87 percent respectively. The United States are at the back of the pack at 49 percent but is growing steadily.
Where there is a medium, there is advertising, and SMS is no exception, M:Metrics reports that text-based marketing growing steadily across Western Europe and the US. The measurement firm reports that the number of mobile subscribers who have received an ad via SMS grew at a rate of 15 percent in Western Europe from May 2007 to January 2008 and in the US, about 27 percent
Mobile subscribers who respond to an SMS ad has grown as well, especially in Italy, where we see a growth of 52 percent compared to 28 percent for Western Europe as a whole, and 17 percent in the US. Interestingly, Italian mobile subscribers also send the most text messages in an average month.
Text-Based Mobile Advertising, by country: January 2007 |
| FR | DE | IT | ES | UK | US |
| Reach % | Reach % | Reach % | Reach % | Reach % | Reach % |
| | | | | | |
Sent text message to another phone | 75.9% | 79.6% | 87.7% | 85.4% | 87.4% | 47.9% |
| | | | | | | |
SMS Ads: Number received in month | 64.7% | 31.1% | 56.0% | 73.1% | 35.4% | 19.2% |
SMS Ads: Responded to ad | 4.6% | 1.9% | 8.1% | 3.6% | 3.7% | 2.4% |
Source: M:Metrics, Inc., Copyright © 2008. Survey of mobile subscribers. Data based on three-month moving average for period ending 30th January 2007, mobile subscribers in France, n = 12,783 Germany, n = 15,585; Italy, n = 13,059; Spain, n = 12,720; United Kingdom, n = 15,259; United States, n = 32,262 |
The majority of text-based advertisements are still coming from the mobile operators themselves. In Western Europe 18 percent are ads from the operators promoting mobile content or other services pertaining to mobile service. However, other advertisers have joined the mix , and users are now receiving ads for products and services such as entertainment, financial services, cars, clothing or travel.
While all this growth is exciting for the mobile marketing industry, there is some downside despite the Mobile Marketing Association’s valiant efforts to proactively create best practices to avoid mobile spam, consumers report that advertisements that did not come from the operators were from companies that did not have permission to make contact. In France, we see a whopping 21 percent, or 9.5 million of all French mobile subscribers receiving SMS ads from a sender that did not have permission to send to this person.
Text-Based Mobile Advertising, by country, Source of ad/offer received: January 2007 |
| FR | DE | IT | ES | UK | US |
| Reach % | Reach % | Reach % | Reach % | Reach % | Reach % |
Service Provider | 49.2% | 20.9% | 45.6% | 59.8% | 23.6% | 11.5% |
Company with permission | 12.9% | 7.0% | 13.5% | 8.3% | 6.3% | 2.7% |
Company without permission | 20.8% | 6.3% | 6.7% | 11.9% | 10.9% | 5.4% |
Source: M:Metrics, Inc., Copyright © 2008. Survey of mobile subscribers. Data based on three-month moving average for period ending 30th January 2007, mobile subscribers in France, n = 12,783 Germany, n = 15,585; Italy, n = 13,059; Spain, n = 12,720; United Kingdom, n = 15,259; United States, n = 32,262 |
The mobile advertising market has matured considerably over the past year, and is no longer a novel addition to media planners, but rather a key component to an interactive campaign. In a relatively short period of time, mobile has evolved into a legitimate medium, with the world’s leading brands, from Coca-Cola to Procter and Gamble investing big bucks into the potential for advertisers to have a one-to-one relationship with the consumer.
There is no doubt that advertising on mobile phones is highly desirable, given the mobile device’s personal and ubiquitous nature, but marketers must tread carefully in this growing stage to avoid killing the goose that lays the golden egg by alienating consumers through legal, though ambiguous, opt-in policies.
