• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, December 3, 2008

According to Scarborough Research, in addition to being young and diverse, Texters are among the country's highest spenders on cellular services. On average, they spend $87 on their monthly cellular bill. By contrast, all cellular subscribers spend an average of $75 monthly. They are 46% more likely than all cellular subscribers to typically spend $150 or more on cellular service monthly. Texters are 12% more likely to plan to switch services. They utilize a wide variety of phone features - such as picture messaging, streaming video and email - at a rate higher than that of the average cell user.

These consumers are 49% more likely than all cellular subscribers to be ages 18-24, 14% more likely to be Hispanic, and 24% more likely to be African-American. Scarborough points to these similarities as likely reasons why El Paso, Salt Lake City, Dallas and Memphis are the top text messaging markets. 57% of cell phone subscribers age 18+ in El Paso text message, versus 48% of adult cellular subscribers nationally. 55% of cell subscribers in these cities utilize the text messaging feature on their phone.

Fort Myers, FL, Charleston, WV, and Grand Rapids, MI are the local markets least likely to text message. 36% of Fort Meyers and Charleston cellular subscribers utilize the text messaging feature on their phones, as do 35% of those in Grand Rapids, MI.

20% of Texters spend more than $1,000 online annually, versus 17% of all cellular users. When not online or shopping they are 37% more likely than all cellular subscribers to have played basketball as a leisure activity, 29% more likely to have gone jogging/running, 29% more likely to have played tennis, and 23% more likely to have practiced yoga during the past year.

And, their interests reflect their youthful demographic and active nature. Texters are 12% more likely to have attended a professional sports event, and 57% more likely to have gone to an R&B/Rap/Hip-Hop concert during the past year.

Texter households are avid technology shoppers, says the report. Texters are more likely than the average cell phone subscriber to live in a household that owns, or plans to buy, a wide variety of hi-tech items, from HDTVs to MP3 players to video game systems.

39% of Texters live in a household that shopped Best Buy during the past year, versus 27% of all consumers nationally.

• 35% of Texters live in a household that shopped Wal-Mart for tech items during the past year
• 20% of Texters shopped Target

Gary Meo, senior vice president, digital media services, Scarborough Research, concludes "Text messaging could be... disproportionately appealing to marketers because it delivers a young, multicultural audience... (but) texts can provide a very locally targeted vehicle for marketers wanting to reach people in the right place at the right time... "

For more information and a PDF file of this report, please visit Scarborough here.