Australians are the most comfortable with mobile ads, globally.

I have just finished a Melbourne and Sydney road show with my esteemed colleague Surag Patel (Global Research Director) presenting A Global Consumer View of Mobile Advertising to journalists, analysts, agencies, developers and brands.The research, believed to be the largest and most comprehensive on a global scale, uncovered some very interesting insights into the Australian attitude towards mobile ads.

Download a summary of the research here: One of the most striking findings was that the Australian population was the most receptive to mobile advertising of any of the 14 surveyed countries. 75 % of surveyed Australians are somewhat or very comfortable with mobile advertising and that begs the question why? To answer this it is important to look at the overall mobile landscape in Australia. In July 2008, the iPhone was launched into Australia. Unlike other developed mobile markets like the US and UK, Australians were able to sign up for an iPhone across any mobile carrier and as such ownership of 2008s must-have device proliferated.

In December 2010, for the first time in almost 10 years, Apple broke Nokias stronghold on the Australian smartphone market(with the help of the almost ubiquitous iPhone 4, which now hasa 36.5% market share. So why does this make mobile advertising more palatable for Australians? With more mobile phones than people in Australia and almost half of these being smartphones, the mobile advertising experience is richer, cleaner and with better executions (videos, click to calendar, click to share etc.) Now we know that Australians are partial to mobile advertising, it is also important to understand what they see as its purpose. Surprisingly with all the hype around location-based advertising, this came in 7th (with 23%) out of the 9 survey options of perceived benefits of mobile advertising. At the top of the list was introducing people to something new (56%) and also helping people learn more about something (37%). Australians are craving information and are amongst the most advanced mobile advertising markets globally. Now is the time for brands to get on board and drive upper funnel awareness and interest through this rapidly evolving channel. In the words of Russell Crowe God bless America. God save the Queen. God defend New Zealand and thank Christ for Australia. Download the PDF research summary here: