Tag Archives: QR code

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.