Growing mobile content consumption offers new frontier in advertising

A study by the Online Publishers Association (OPA) reveals that about one-third (34%) of mobile Web users say they will watch advertisements in exchange for free mobile content, and nearly 10% have actually made a purchase based on a mobile Web ad, making mobile Web a compelling platform for content and marketing.

Going Mobile: An International Study of Content Use and Advertising on the Mobile Web is the first OPA study to go beyond the U.S., involving over 6,000 interviews in the U.S., the U.K., France, Italy, Spain and Germany. The study was conducted in partnership with TNS Media and Entertainment.

Going Mobile’s key findings include:

1. Access to the mobile web is widespread and usage will continue to grow in 2007
2. Advertising works on mobile Web both in terms of receptivity and action
3. Brands play a significant role in driving mobile Web activity
4. People depend on the Mobile web for key content and are actively registering, and personalizing and paying for content.

“While people often think of the mobile Web as the realm of ringtones and messaging, it is clearly a rich platform for quality content and marketing,” said OPA President Pam Horan. “Mobile content consumption is high and growing – in the year ahead, current users plan to spend more time with the mobile Web and new audiences will adopt the platform.

With mobile Web users starting to watch and act on mobile advertisements embedded in the content, it may be that mobile web might finally become a viable publishing medium, for both consumers and publishers.

The complete Going Mobile report is available at www.online-publishers.org. 

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