58M U.S. mobile subscribers have seen ads

Twenty-three percent (58 million) of all U.S. mobile subscribers say they’ve been exposed to advertising on their phones in the past 30 days, according to a new report out from The Nielsen Company.  Half (51% or 28 million) of all data users who recall seeing mobile advertising in the previous 30 days say they responded to a mobile ad in some way.

The findings come from the bi-annual Mobile Advertising Report from Nielsen Mobile and examine consumer recall, responses and attitudes toward banner ads on mobile web pages, SMS text-message advertising, sponsored applications, video advertising and other types of advertising that reach consumers while using data applications on their mobile phones. 

The number of data users who recalled seeing mobile advertising between the second and fourth quarters of 2007 increased 38% (from 42 to 58 million subscribers). Teen data users (ages 13–17) were the most likely age segment to recall seeing mobile advertising (46% recalled seeing some type of mobile advertisement, compared to 29% of all data users).

Asian-Americans and African-Americans are more likely to recall mobile advertising (42% and 40%, respectively) than all data users. 26% of those who saw an ad responded at least once by sending an SMS text-message, the most popular ad response.  9% say they’ve used click-to-call to respond to a mobile ad, where users follow a link on their phone to call a specific number. 32% of data users said they are open to mobile advertising if it lowers their overall bill. 13% (18% of males) said they are open to mobile advertising if it improves the media and content currently available.

14% said they are already open to mobile advertising so long as it is relevant to their interests. 23% expect to see more mobile advertising in the future (up from just 15% in Q1 2007). Have an opinion on this article? Post your comment below.

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