Study: Consumers are getting more interested in mobile content, ads

Online Publishers Association (OPA) together with TNS Media and Entertainment conducted a research to show whether the mobile web has any worth as an advertising medium. The study involved over 6,000 interviews in the U.S., U.K., France, Italy, Spain and Germany, and showed that the consumers are increasingly interested in the mobile web usage and advertising.

People are going to use the mobile web more and more. Also, they are willing to watch advertisements and actually act on them in large numbers. It seems clear that both marketers and publishers can count on the mobile advertising as a large source of revenue.

Consumers visit a great range of websites on their mobile phones, but the most frequent ones are those concerning weather, sports, news and stock quotes.

Highlights:

• 76% of all consumers in the U.S. and Western Europe have access to the Web on their mobile device.
• The U.K. leads with its 54%, and is followed by the U.S. and Italy, both at 41%.
• Consumers expect to spend 18% more time on the mobile Web in 2007.
• 41% of consumers currently without mobile Web access want to have that feature on their next mobile phone.
• 33% of mobile Web users say they are willing to watch ads in order to get free mobile content.
• 10% of consumers buy a product they saw advertised in a mobile Web ad; 23% actually visit the advertiser’s website; 13% seek more info on the product, and 11% go to the store to see a product.