Data aids in geo-targeting mobile consumers

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Media AuditA new report from The Media Audit taps into the mobile media sphere to find out how mobile advertisers can best reach consumers both demographically and geographically. According to the report, more than half of U.S. consumers surveyed nationally now access the Internet on a weekly basis via a mobile device such as smart phone or tablet. The figure represents more than 74 million consumers across The Media Audit’s 81 measured markets. With the rapidly growing number of mobile internet users, the demand among advertisers is reaching new heights, causing advertising costs to correspondingly rise dramatically. It is estimated that more than $725 million was spent by advertisers in local mobile display advertising in 2013, a figure that is expected to triple in the next four years.


Geo-targeting of mobile ads has shown a steady increase in popularity among marketers primarily due to the efficiencies which geo-targeting provides. Data from The Media Audit report illustrates how advertisers can best target consumers and improve ROI.

Where are the Wealthy Mobile Internet Users?

According to The Media Audit, not all metro areas are alike insofar as targeting the upscale and wealthy. Mobile Internet users in Washington D.C. earn an average annual household income of $102,457, whereas, mobile internet users in Lubbock, Texas earn $57,425 in annual household income.  The disparity might have some advertisers looking at geo-targeting as a way to separate the lower income markets from the higher income markets when conceiving a targeted mobile ad campaign aimed at the wealthy.  San Jose, CA, Albany, New York, Orange County and San Francisco, CA are also among top markets for wealthy mobile internet users, with each market nearing six figure annual household incomes among each metro area’s mobile internet population.

Top Metro Areas for Hispanic Mobile Internet Users

Advertisers across the U.S. are increasingly recognizing the importance of Hispanic consumers and their growing purchase power, estimated to reach $1.5 trillion by 2015. According to The Media Audit’s latest National Report, the number of Hispanics who access the Internet via mobile device grew by 25% year-over-year and now exceeds 14 million Hispanic mobile internet users across The Media Audit’s 81 measured markets.

Among metro areas with 500,000 or more Hispanics, Washington, D.C., Dallas, Texas and Chicago, Illinois have the highest concentration of Hispanics who are mobile internet users. In Washington, D.C., two-thirds of the metro area’s Hispanic population access the Internet weekly via mobile device, a figure that is 25% higher when compared to the national average. Similarly, two-thirds of Dallas’s nearly 1.2 million Hispanic consumers are weekly mobile internet users, while 58% of Hispanics in Chicago regularly access the Internet via mobile device.  In markets such as Orange County, CA, only 44% of Hispanics access the Internet via mobile device, a figure that is nearly 14% below the national average. The disparity in data gives emphasis to the fact that not all markets have the capacity to produce the same results in a national or large scale mobile ad campaign.