• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, April 12, 2007

A new study by Arbitron and Telephia , examining the evolving market for mobile audio services from the consumer point of view, concludes that mobile audio is a promising opportunity that has not yet been fully exploited. The report notes that only one in 16 mobile phone subscribers (6 percent) report using one or more mobile audio features in the last 30 days.

The study finds that downloading music over-the-air has the highest awareness among the general mobile population. Listening to music transferred from another device is the most commonly used way of accessing mobile audio.

 Additional significant findings of the study include:

• Current mobile audio users spend more time than the general mobile population on nearly every media and entertainment activity except watching TV
• 5% of mobile audio users spend more than sixty dollars a month on wireless subscriptions than the general mobile phone user population (49 percent)
• More than three quarters of those who download content over-the-air and those who listen to free FM radio agree that commercials are a fair price to pay for free content
• Two out of three subscription radio users also agree that commercials are a fair price to pay for free programming
• 63% of current mobile audio users are male
• 71% of all current mobile audio users are aged 25 to 44

Finally, approximately two-thirds of “non-current” mobile audio users are “not interested at all” in any of the four major options for accessing mobile audio services. 

Wayman Leung, senior product manager, Telephia, says  “Most current mobile audio users prefer the ad-supported model over paying a subscription fee. And this group is a very attractive demographic for advertisers to target as it’s comprised mainly of affluent, tech-savvy early adopters.”

And Neal Bonner, product development manager, Arbitron Inc, follows up by saying “…mobile audio represents an untapped marketplace that (marketers) can exploit in partnership with mobile phone networks. Radio broadcasters are uniquely positioned to deliver programming for these promising new audio services.”

download the complete PDF format study here.