Commentary

Moms' Growing Mobile Presence

Mom-Mobile

Moms are increasingly active mobile consumers, according to new findings in the latest monthly metrics report from Millennial Media. The mobile ad network took a closer look at the demographic in connection with October being Breast Cancer Awareness month. Using data from InsightExpress' Q2 Digital Consumer Portrait, the report noted 32% of moms owned a smartphone in 2010, up from 20% last year.

That proportion  still comes in somewhat lower than the roughly 40% of U.S. women overall who own smartphones, based on comScore data across popular high-end phone platforms like the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry. Nearly one-third of moms say they use the mobile Web once a week, also up from 20% in 2009.

When asked about where they use different mobile data services, two-thirds of moms said they sent and received text messages from home and the rest somewhere else. Accessing the Web, playing games, listening to music, watching video were other mobile activities they did at least half the time from home, with social networking close at 47%.

In a recent study that surveyed in part gender differences in mobile use, Nielsen found women talk 22% more than men (856 minutes a month compared to men's 667) and text more, too, with an average of 601 SMS messages a month, compared to 447 for men.

Among other highlights from Millennial's September report, entertainment ranked as the top ad category in the third quarter, with spending up 315% from a year ago. The growth stemmed mainly from studios promoting DVD and VOD movie launches, building on prior campaigns for their theatrical releases.

Portals and directories, which had been the No. 1 category in the second quarter, fell to fifth. But Millennial noted six ad segments have seen triple-digit gains in spending this year: finance, retail and restaurants, communications, travel, and armed forces along with entertainment.

Overall, 12% of advertisers used rich media in their campaigns and 44% used some type of audience targeting, whether geographic, demographic or behavioral, among others. Nearly half (46%) of campaigns drove traffic to a mobile site, but a growing proportion, 21%, also prompted visitors to download a mobile app. Millennial said its audience reach increased to 73.5 million people, or about 80% of the 82 million U.S. mobile Web users.
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