• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, August 26, 2011

A new comScore study on mobile QR (Quick Response) code scanning readable by smartphones, found that 14 million mobile users in the U.S., representing 6.2% of the total mobile audience, scanned a QR code on their mobile device. A mobile user that scanned a QR code was more likely to be male (60.5% of code scanning audience), skew toward ages 18-34 (53.4%) and have a household income of $100k or above (36.1%).

Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile "QR codes demonstrate just one of the ways in which mobile marketing can effectively be integrated into existing media and marketing campaigns... "

A demographic analysis of those who scanned a QR code with their mobile phone in June revealed an audience that was more likely to be male, young to middle-age and upper income. More than half of all QR code scanners were between the ages of 18-34. Those between the age of 25-34 were twice as likely as the average mobile user to engage in this behavior, while 18-24 year olds were 36% more likely than average to scan. More than 1 of every 3 QR code scanners had a household income of at least $100,000, representing both the largest and most over-represented income segment among the scanning audience.

Demographic Profile QR Code Scanning Audience  (Total Mobile Audience U.S. Age 13+)
Audience	QR Code Audience (000)	% of QR Code Audience	Index (Code Scanners)
Total Audience: Age 13+	14,452	100.0%	100
Gender:
Male	8,743	60.5%	125
Female	5,709	39.5%	76
Age:
13-17	1,076	7.4%	108
18-24	2,402	16.6%	136
25-34	5,317	36.8%	211
35-44	2,827	19.6%	117
45-54	1,798	12.4%	68
55-64	594	4.1%	28
65+	437	3.0%	22
Income:
<$25k	1,193	8.3%	54
$25k to <$50k	2,597	18.0%	79
$50k to <$75k	2,756	19.1%	96
$75k to <$100k	2,689	18.6%	125
$100k+	5,217	36.1%	13
Source: comScore MobiLens, June 2011

The most popular source of a scanned QR code was a printed magazine or newspaper, with nearly half scanning QR codes from this source. Product packaging was the source of QR code scanning for 35.3% of the audience, while 27.4% scanned a code from a website on a PC and 23.5% scanned codes from a poster/flyer/kiosk.

Source of Scanned QR Code (Total Mobile Audience U.S. Age 13+)
	QR Code Audience (000)	% of QR Code Audience (Mult. Sources)
Total Audience: Scanned QR code with mobile phone	14,452	100.0%
Printed magazine or newspaper	7,138	49.4%
Product packaging	5,101	35.3%
Website on PC	3,957	27.4%
Poster or flyer or kiosk	3,393	23.5%
Business card or brochure	1,940	13.4%
Storefront	1,850	12.8%
TV	1,693	11.7%
Source: comScore MobiLens, June 2011

Among mobile users who scanned a QR code on their mobile devices in June, 58.0% did so from their home, while 39.4% did so from a retail store and 24.5% did so from a grocery store.

Location When Scanning QR Code (Total Mobile Audience U.S. Age 13+)
	QR Code Audience (000)	% of QR Code Audience (Mult. Sources)
Total Audience: Scanned QR code with mobile phone	14,452	100.0%
At home	8,382	58.0%
Retail store	5,688	39.4%
Grocery store	3,546	24.5%
At work	2,844	19.7%
Outside or on public transit	1,827	12.6%
Restaurant	1,095	7.6%
Source: comScore MobiLens, June 2011

For additional information from comScore, please visit here, or for additional insights into QR Code usage in Europe, please visit the comScore Data Mine here.