Mobile marketing is on track to grow 27% to a $2.1 billion market in 2010, according to the Mobile Marketing Association. The total mobile audience is still relatively small, however, and is confined to a limited market segment; moreover, marketers who reach out to the wrong mobile audience risk turning them off, according to BIGresearch's Simultaneous Media Usage Survey.
In general, men are more likely than women (58% vs. 42%) to be mobile marketing users; users also tend to be younger than non-users (age 39, on average, vs. age 46).
Mobile marketing users represent a desirable consumer group for specific products, such as electronics: 22.4% of mobile marketing users plan to buy a computer in the next six months, compared with 13.1% of non-mobile marketing users; 20.2 % plan to buy a TV (compared with 12.6%) and 11.2% plan to buy a digital camera (compared with 7.1%).
Increased Distaste for Mobile Marketing
As of June 2009, the percentage of adults (18+) who dislike mobile marketing increased over the previous year:
- 66.8% of adults said they disliked text ads in June 2009, compared with 63.8% in June 2008.
- 60.2% disliked voicemail ads, compared with 56.8% in 2008.
- 59.6% disliked video ads, compared with 56.1% in 2008.
- 58.0% said marketers need permission before sending an ad, compared with 55.6% in 2008.
- 52.1% think ads are an invasion of privacy, compared with 49.5% in 2008.
About the data: BIGresearch conducts the Simultaneous Media Survey (SIMM) of 15,000+ respondents semi-annually. SIMM 14, from which the above-presented data is derived, surveyed 22,624 people from April 29 to June 18, 2009.