• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, April 4, 2007

More than three-quarters of consumers who listen to audio content via their cell phone or another mobile device say they would prefer free, ad-supported content to subscription or fee-based services, according to a new joint study released Tuesday by Arbitron and Telephia. Asked what would spur more mobile audio consumption in the same survey, "lower fees" was the most popular response, suggested by 36% of those surveyed. Advertisers have opportunities both in sponsoring downloads and inserting ads into streaming radio play.

Noting that song prices at digital stores range from $.99 to $2.99 a song, Wayman Leung, a Telephia product manager, opined "that's quite a bit of a premium" for consumers to pay on top of their monthly mobile service fees. That's especially true in light of the fact that mobile audio users are more likely to spend over $60 a month on their mobile service than the general population.

At the same time, the numbers suggest that mobile audio consumption is on the upswing. Although only 6% of mobile audio listeners had used the service in the past month, Arbitron Business Development Manager Neal Bonner noted that this roughly parallels the popularity of Internet music streaming in 2000, which rose to 20% of Internet users by 2006. What's more, 20% of phones sold in 2006 were mobile audio-enabled--and the proportion is bound to rise.

Overall mobile audio consumers are a desirable and engaged audience, the study found. With 71% of listeners ages 25-44, male and ethnic demos both over-indexed in the mobile audio audience: 63% are male, and the percentage of African-Americans, Asians, and Hispanics all exceeded their proportions in the general population. Its popularity among male and ethnic listeners is reflected in the most popular genres aside from pop, including hard rock or heavy metal, punk, Latino, and hip-hop.

Mobile audio listeners are also avid consumers of other kinds of media, multitasking for a total of 17.5 hours of media interaction a day. Compared to the population at large, they over-index in almost every media category measured by Arbitron and Telephia, including watching DVDs and videos, listening to music on an iPod or MP3 player, reading magazines, playing video games, and reading newspapers. Curiously, the one exception was television, where viewing was markedly lower, with 2:33 hours a day versus 3:17 for the general population.

Another curious finding: 31% of listeners say they consume mobile audio in the home, contradicting the conventional wisdom that mobile media are, well, mobile. This was a higher percentage than those listening to at work or school--at 17%--or while commuting, also 17%. Here Leung explained that other Telephia studies show mobile devices allowing individuals to consume their preferred media when parents or siblings have claimed the main radio or TV console.