Marketers Reach Key Demos Via Mobile

Marketers Reach Key Demos Via Mobile

by Gavin O'Malley, Wednesday, Nov 14, 2007 7:00 AM ET

MARKETERS STRUGGLING TO ENGAGE ELUSIVE 18- to-24-year-olds need look no
further than mobile devices, according to new findings from market
research firm InsightExpress.

Members of Generation Y now use their mobile phones to take 76% of all
personal calls, according to an online survey of some 2,000 young mobile
device owners in October, conducted by Stamford, Conn.-based
InsightExpress.

Over half of the Gen Yers--or 56%--report spending time looking for new
things to do with their mobile phones. That engagement leaves the door
open for marketers to reach young consumers with short attention spans
and busy digital social lives.

"It's clear that as an extension of self, these omnipresent devices play
a much broader role in the lives of young people, especially when it
comes to interpersonal relationships, than simply voice or text
communication," says Joy Liuzzo, director of mobile research at
InsightExpress, in a release.

The research firm also outlined new opportunities for marketers looking
to provide users with helpful mobile services. For example, over a third
(34%) of Gen Yers have arranged to have another person call their mobile
device in order to rescue them from undesired social situations.

"The mobile phone has apparently become like a panic button, used for
'rescue missions' in awkward social situations," Liuzzo says. There is
no reason why a brand marketer couldn't just as easily provide this
service.

Seeing mobile's potential, traditional media players, like the big
broadcast networks, are now growing their online and mobile platforms
even faster than pure-play new media companies, according to recent data
from private-equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson and its research
partner PQ Media.

Last year, pure-players like AOL and Yahoo spent $32 billion on
platforms, which amounted to a 10.3% compound annual growth rate (CAGR),
VSS found, using data from PQ Media. Traditional media, meanwhile, spent
$27 billion on platforms, but at a CAGR of 40.6%.

By 2009, VSS and PQ Media predict that spending by traditional media on
online and mobile platforms will actually surpass the pure-play spend,
according to Jim Rutherfurd, managing director at VSS. And by 2011, the
old guard will shell out $68 billion at a CAGR of 20.4%; pure-players
will spend $63 billion at a CAGR of 14.7%

Gavin O'Malley can be reached at gavin@mediapost.com