Mobile Users Seeing, Acting on More Ads: Nielsen

Mobile advertising platforms and others waiting for the space to finally lift off can take comfort from the latest Mobile Advertising Report from Nielsen Mobile and its finding that about 23% of U.S. mobile users—about 58 million people– report receiving an ad over their cell phones within the last month.

Even more importantly, half of those (51%, or about 28 million) report acting on that ad in some way. The most popular response to a mobile ad was sending at least one SMS message; 26% of those reached by an ad did that. Nine percent said they responded to the solicitation by using “click-to-call”, a feature that lets them dial a phone number contained in an ad with a single button push.

Teens 13-17 who used mobile data plans were most likely to recall having gotten a mobile ad in the last month (46%, compared to 29% of mobile data users from all age groups.) Asian-Americans and African-Americans are also more likely than average to remember getting an ad on their cell phones in the previous month (42% and 40% respectively.)
Although only 10% of those polled reported that they think getting ads over their mobile phone is acceptable, the Nielsen survey found that larger proportions were willing to accept advertising if it also brought some benefits.

• 32% of data users said they are open to mobile advertising if it lowers their overall phone bill.
• 14% said they are already open to mobile ads as long as they’re relevant to the users’ interests.
• 13% of data users (18% of males) said they would accept the ads if doing so would improve the media and content currently available.

“We see an increasing trend of consumers willing to trade off and receive advertising to gain more—and better—mobile content,” said Jeff Hermann, Nielsen Mobile vice president of mobile media. “Successful mobile marketers will meet the challenge offered by consumers by engaging with them in a way that adds value to the mobile user content experience.”

Overall, 23% of those polled by Nielsen expect to see more mobile advertising in the future—up from 15% who said the same in early 2007.