Though mobile phone marketing exposure is prevalent in all three countries, the mobile delivery tools vary. Text messaging, however, remains the most common advertising format in all; 74 percent in India, 48 percent in the UK and 22 percent in the US. Mobile web advertising was most prevalent in the UK, with 16 percent of respondents recalling advertising compared with 8 percent of those in the US and 4 percent of those in India. Radio also showed a striking variation with nearly 40 percent of those in India recalling advertisements through radio on their mobile phones compared to only 9 percent in the UK and 3 percent in the US.
The report shows that younger males typically view mobile Internet advertising the most. The brands recalled in advertising via this channel were mainly mobile carriers, handset manufacturers, media brands and digital entertainment companies.
"These findings indicate the degree to which the mobile phone is used as a marketing channel, with enhanced handsets and flat rate data tariffs increasingly common, it is only a matter of time before mobile internet advertising starts to rival the penetration of SMS or text message marketing," says Colin Strong, head of Mobile Communications Research at GfK Technology.
Though the US lags behind the UK and India in many mobile phone usage categories, it shows strong growth. The number of people using mobile phones in the US has grown from 251 million in Q4 2007 to over 263 million this quarter, up nearly ten percent. The US also shows steady increases in the number of people who recall seeing advertising through their mobile phone, from 31 percent to 37 percent over the same time period.
