Tag Archives: comscore

comScore: Mobile Approaches Tipping Point, Driving Incremental Web Traffic | MediaPost

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Mobile media is approaching a standard measure of “critical mass” – the point at which at least half the population uses it to “connect to media,” Mark Donovan, senior vice president and senior mobile analyst at comScore said Monday evening while revealing some compelling new statistics about the rapid adoption of mobile consumer media technologies at the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s MIXX conference in New York. Donovan released data showing that nearly 48% of America’s 112 million mobile phone users now regularly use their devices to access media content, other than voice or text, and that number will tip the halfway mark by the end of the year.

Donovan said the emergence of smartphones, and especially Apple’s IOS and Google’s Android operating systems, have been the big game-changers driving mobile media consumption, but that other non-PC-connected devices, particularly tablet computers, are affecting consumer media behavior at an even faster rate.

While conventional computers still account for 93.2% of all Web traffic, according to the latest comScore estimates, Donovan said “mobile devices” – especially smartphones and tablets – now account for nearly two-thirds (64.4%) of all non-personal computer-connected Web access, and are growing fast. Among those mobile devices, Donovan said tablets are the fastest-growing segment, and that tablet devices now represent 28.1% of all non-computer traffic to the Web, and that Apple’s iPads are the dominant portion (97%) of that market.

Donovan said the rapid growth of mobile Web access is having a remarkable effect on Web publishing, citing comScore stats showing that top publishers now get a significant amount of their total traffic from mobile devices. He said The New York Times currently gets 7.6% of its audience from mobile, while USA Today gets 10% and the Los Angeles Times gets 11.2%.

Some digital native publishers get even more. Online music service Pandora, for example, currently gets more than half (52%) of its total traffic from a mobile device.

While mobile traffic still is a tiny slice of the total Internet (just 0.2%), it is adding significant incremental reach for specific categories of content. Mobile boosts traffic to online mapping services 56.8%, and increases the duration of time users spend on mapping sites by 9.2 times.

Donovan said mobile has also become a significant factor for social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, where many users access them solely via mobile devices.

Currently, he said, mobile is boosting social network traffic by about 12.5%, and expands the duration those users spend with social media by 2.8 times.

“There are people who are only doing Facebook or Twitter on their phone,” Donovan noted, citing recent comments by executives at Facebook and Twitter that they are becoming mobile companies.

via MediaPost Publications comScore: Mobile Approaches Tipping Point, Driving Incremental Web Traffic 10/04/2011.

U.S. Hispanics Connected & Online: Getting Around the Digital Divide

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In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, it’s appropriate to discuss the latest trends online among the Hispanic community. From closing the digital divide among Hispanics 50+ to the newer and younger general market with a Latino flair (now being classified as: Gen N), US Hispanics are leading the future of technology and marketing.

Recently, the 2010 Census data revealed that one in six Americans is Hispanic. With 50.5 million people nationwide, Hispanics are the fastest-growing minority group in America. It’s no surprise that companies are changing their marketing strategies in order to reach Latinos. But, what is surprising is how we go about reaching and engaging this powerful community.

Several studies have confirmed the importance of online marketing among Hispanic consumers. Google recently released a report titled “Four Truths about US Hispanic Consumers” that is an eye opener for anyone interested in reaching the nation’s largest minority group.

If Google isn’t convincing enough, here are five more reasons why reaching Hispanics via digital media is a must:

1. Hispanics are the highest users of text messaging and mobile devices.

Research shows that the Hispanic community is among the highest users of text messaging and spends more time interacting on their mobile phones overall.

In May 2010, the Pew Internet & American Life Foundation reported:

  • 87% of Hispanic households have multiple mobile phones and use them more than any other form of personal or handheld technologies on the market today
  • More than half regularly use text messaging
  • Text messaging has increased 59% YOY among Hispanics
  • Responding to mobile marketing text messages is up 74% vs. last year

When creating content to reach Hispanics, they’ll be the first to tell you they prefer to receive information in Spanish. This doesn’t mean simply translating English messages into Spanish, but truly understanding the culture and demographic of this diverse community that you’re trying to reach. There are several translation services available when considering a SMS campaign, online ads or websites to effectively reach Hispanics.

2. Hispanics are active on social media.

Hispanics are also actively using their mobile devices to access social media channels. Facebook and YouTube are the 2nd and 4th most popular social channels among Hispanics. However, these are just two of the many social channels available to reach Hispanics.

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Scarborough Research also reveals that 12% of US Hispanic mobile users use social networks on their mobile vs. 10% of the general market.

3. Hispanics are technology savvy.

Research also shows that Hispanics are younger and more technologically savvy. AOL’s Hispanic Cyberstudy, reports 46% of Hispanics who are actively online are under the age of 35. Another astonishing fact is that 32% of Hispanics access the Internet through their smartphones, compared to 20% of the general market. This tech savvy trend is not only prevalent inmobile adoption, but the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication also found that Hispanics are early adopters of tablets and e-readers as well. It’s no wonder that Hispanics have an estimated $1.3 trillion in buying power this year.

4. Hispanic mobile websites are simple and just smart.

If we know younger Hispanics are accessing the Internet on their smartphones, a mobile website is a must. A mobile optimized website has multiple benefits:

  • They will work on virtually any smartphone.
  • Content is simplified and design is less intensive, often being a cost effective option.
  • Mobile websites can be easily translated into multiple languages.

Check out Univision’s mobile site and Major League Baseball’s LasMayores.com Spanish mobile version for examples.

5. Hispanics are more responsive to online advertising

Hispanics online are not only younger, tech savvy and connected – they’re also more receptive to online advertising.ComScore recently reported on how responsive Internet users are to online advertising. When looking at advertisement, 31% of U.S. Hispanics reported they enjoy watching advertisements compared to 19% for non-Hispanics. The study also shows that 48% of Hispanics expect advertising to be entertaining compared to 39% of non-Hispanics.

Still not convinced, Google can give you 200 million reasons why they are investing in Latinos online. That’s how much Google reported brands are spending online this year to reach the Hispanics market. We will have to watch how Google+ and Facebook capitalize on the Hispanic market – and if they do it well. It’s no doubt that Latinos will begin to tune out advertisers unless they are culturally relevant and engaging – even when speaking to Gen N.

via U.S. Hispanics Connected & Online: Getting Around the Digital Divide.

QR Codes Best in Magazines, Newspapers & Packaging

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A new comScore study on mobile QR (Quick Response) code scanning readable by smartphones, found that 14 million mobile users in the U.S., representing 6.2% of the total mobile audience, scanned a QR code on their mobile device. A mobile user that scanned a QR code was more likely to be male (60.5% of code scanning audience), skew toward ages 18-34 (53.4%) and have a household income of $100k or above (36.1%).

Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile “QR codes demonstrate just one of the ways in which mobile marketing can effectively be integrated into existing media and marketing campaigns… ”

A demographic analysis of those who scanned a QR code with their mobile phone in June revealed an audience that was more likely to be male, young to middle-age and upper income. More than half of all QR code scanners were between the ages of 18-34. Those between the age of 25-34 were twice as likely as the average mobile user to engage in this behavior, while 18-24 year olds were 36% more likely than average to scan. More than 1 of every 3 QR code scanners had a household income of at least $100,000, representing both the largest and most over-represented income segment among the scanning audience.

Demographic Profile QR Code Scanning Audience  (Total Mobile Audience U.S. Age 13+)
Audience QR Code Audience (000) % of QR Code Audience Index (Code Scanners)
Total Audience: Age 13+ 14,452 100.0% 100
Gender:      
   Male 8,743 60.5% 125
   Female 5,709 39.5% 76
Age:      
   13-17 1,076 7.4% 108
   18-24 2,402 16.6% 136
   25-34 5,317 36.8% 211
   35-44 2,827 19.6% 117
   45-54 1,798 12.4% 68
   55-64 594 4.1% 28
   65+ 437 3.0% 22
Income:      
   <$25k 1,193 8.3% 54
   $25k to <$50k 2,597 18.0% 79
   $50k to <$75k 2,756 19.1% 96
   $75k to <$100k 2,689 18.6% 125
   $100k+ 5,217 36.1% 13
Source: comScore MobiLens, June 2011

The most popular source of a scanned QR code was a printed magazine or newspaper, with nearly half scanning QR codes from this source. Product packaging was the source of QR code scanning for 35.3% of the audience, while 27.4% scanned a code from a website on a PC and 23.5% scanned codes from a poster/flyer/kiosk.

Source of Scanned QR Code (Total Mobile Audience U.S. Age 13+)
  QR Code Audience (000) % of QR Code Audience (Mult. Sources)
Total Audience: Scanned QR code with mobile phone 14,452 100.0%
Printed magazine or newspaper 7,138 49.4%
Product packaging 5,101 35.3%
Website on PC 3,957 27.4%
Poster or flyer or kiosk 3,393 23.5%
Business card or brochure 1,940 13.4%
Storefront 1,850 12.8%
TV 1,693 11.7%
Source: comScore MobiLens, June 2011

Among mobile users who scanned a QR code on their mobile devices in June, 58.0% did so from their home, while 39.4% did so from a retail store and 24.5% did so from a grocery store.

Location When Scanning QR Code (Total Mobile Audience U.S. Age 13+)
  QR Code Audience (000) % of QR Code Audience (Mult. Sources)
Total Audience: Scanned QR code with mobile phone 14,452 100.0%
At home 8,382 58.0%
Retail store 5,688 39.4%
Grocery store 3,546 24.5%
At work 2,844 19.7%
Outside or on public transit 1,827 12.6%
Restaurant 1,095 7.6%
Source: comScore MobiLens, June 2011

For additional information from comScore, please visit here, or for additional insights into QR Code usage in Europe, please visit the comScore Data Mine here.