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British consumers are increasingly influenced by mobile

Published on August 14, 2012
British consumers are increasingly influenced by mobile

InMobi UK study reveals mobile ranks first in media consumption; Brits spend an average 2.5 hours a day using their mobile device

LONDON, UK: 14th August, 2012

—Today, InMobi, the largest independent mobile advertising network, released its UK Mobile Media Consumption Report for Q2 2012 developed with OnDevice Research, revealing that UK mobile web users consume 9 hours of media a day and are actively adopting m-commerce as a purchasing platform. Mobile advertising influences 48% of consumers on their purchasing decisions. Compared to Q4 2011 more late-technology adopters are embracing m-commerce, and of those yet to use it, 45% expect to do so within the next twelve months.

Mobile Commerce Adoption on the rise

m-commerce has traditionally been driven by early adopters more comfortable with larger purchases through mobile transactions. However, today’s survey shows that late adopters are now also more trusting of mobile platforms for purchases; m-commerce will become more prevalent across the more mainstream consumer sector. The growth of smartphones and tablets is strongly driving this, as more content being consumed on mobile devices. 71% of UK consumers surveyed expect to use m-commerce in the next 12 months – this will continue to increase significantly. It is a strong sign for the industry that 20% of respondents are willing to spend over £20 on mobile purchases, with early adopters (26%) driving this trend by willing to spend even as much as £50 on mobile purchases.

  • 63% of consumers have used m-commerce – a 9% increase from Q4 2011
  • 47% buying digital goods; 34% buying physical goods; 26% on bill payments and 21% buying services

These findings are driven by the continued surge in media consumption on mobile amongst consumers, with 61% of respondents finding it easy to use and readily available. The rise of social media on mobile – 22% use their mobile for such platforms – has helped drive this growth.

Mobile ads impact consumer purchasing habits

Advertisers cannot afford to ignore the mobile opportunity, with the majority of the UK population now mobile data users with almost half acknowledging the influence of mobile media in their purchasing decisions. The increase in devices upon which mobile content can be pushed and engaged through appears to be driving this shift in behavioural purchases. The survey found mobile (48%) only marginally behind mainstream TV advertising (55%) and on a par with PC-based advertising (48%) as far as impacting purchase decisions. This influence is directly relating to brand sales both on and offline, with a fifth of respondents stating mobile advertising influenced their subsequent in-store purchase, and 21% stating it influenced them to buy via their mobile. “These results demonstrate that mobile advertising is finally, rightfully, taking its place alongside traditional content such as online and TV when it comes to directly influencing consumers’ purchasing decisions. The findings show that archaic perceptions of mobile advertising being intrusive are long gone, and as such is fantastic news for brands and publishers alike,” said Lee Blyth, Head of UK Sales at InMobi. “The onus is now on brands and content agencies to build on this by creating compelling, engaging media to capture consumers’ attention and ensure the mobile can truly become the personalised platform we have all been hoping it will become.”

Marketeers, Take Note!

Marketeers can now optimise their mobile strategies through understanding the new wave of mobile consumer behaviour, which is creating dramatic changes in the mobile landscape. Comfort levels are already high with mobile as an advertising platform. However, while mobile is impacting purchase behaviour it is yet to be fully leveraged. Mobile is becoming the leading source of media across the board; this is how the UK mobile media consumer behaves:

 

About InMobi

InMobi is the largest independent mobile advertising network. With offices on five continents InMobi provides advertisers, publishers and developers with a uniquely global solution for advertising. The network is growing and now delivers the unprecedented ability to reach 587 Million consumers, in over 165 countries, through several billion daily mobile ad impressions. The recent acquisition of Sprout, a leading HTML5 authoring platform for mobile rich media, helps expand the InMobi offering to creative agencies and brands. InMobi is venture-backed by investors including: SoftBank, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sherpalo Ventures. The company has offices in Bangalore, London, New York, San Francisco, Melbourne, Singapore, Tokyo, Bangkok, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Paris, Madrid, Hamburg, Dubai, Seoul and Moscow. To learn more, please visit www.inmobi.com/research, follow us on Twitter @InMobi, or read our blog at www.inmobi.com/inmobiblog/.

About the Research

This UK research was conducted as part of a global study to understand mobile media consumption and how it has changed over time. 22,000 respondents in 20 key markets globally were used, of these 961 were mobile consumers in the UK for Q4 2011 and 999 mobile consumers in the UK for Q2 2012.  InMobi recruited respondents via its UK mobile ad network, and used On Device Research’s mobile web platforms to collect a representative sample. The research was focused on those who use mobile media including native apps and mobile websites.

Media Contact:

Mital Goel PR Manager, EMEA at InMobi T: +44 (0) 207 492 7000 E: emea-media@inmobi.com