June 30, 2010

Mobile Consumers- Mobile Marketing

While newspaper readership maybe waning for old style broadsheet and tabloid papers , there are some media outlets that are being given new life by technology.

Demographics have a lot to do with this trend and the current 20 yr old is more apt to receive their news on their mobile devices. I discovered this when I asked my 23 yr old daughter a question about a news item and she responded that she had gotten an alert message on her smartphone about it a few minutes earlier. I thought I knew the younger folks but I learn something new every day.

She is not alone in this habit according to a Pew Internet and American Life Project Report, Understanding The Participatory News Consumer
“The survey reports that some 37% of US cell-phone users get their news online on their wireless devices and that
72% check weather reports on their cell
68% get news and current events information on their cell
49% have downloaded an application that allows them to access news, weather, sports, or other information on their cell
44% check sports scores and related information on their cell
35% check traffic information on their cell
32% get financial information or updates
31% get news alerts sent by text or email to their phones
88% say yes to at least one of the above
Overall, cell users under age 50 are almost three times as likely as their older counterparts to get news on the go (43% v. 15%), and they engage in all cell-based news consumption activities at higher rates than older cell phone users. ”

One company that is helping the old newspaper industry keep up is the Canadian startup Spreed Inc. which provides the platform for the Toronto Globe and Mail to be on wireless smartphones today and has allowed the paper to serve up over 7.5 to 10 million ages views a month. Their Director of Marketing, Dave Coleman was interviewed at Podcamp Toronto 2010 and described the initiatives underway o the Iphone.

Geolocation and analytics are giving a lot of local advertisers new opportunities to have have coupons or targtted messages delivered when a consumer is within a radius of the business and to know the size of their local mobile market. Given the number of Iphones, the introduction of the Iphone 4,Ipad and Blackberry’s in the US this is likely to ramp up considerably in the months ahead. To learn more about these mobile apps and ad serving platform you can go to Spreed Inc or read theSpreed Blog at