Survey: Mobile ads catching eyes

More mobile users are seeing — and responding to — ads on their mobile phones, according to new figures from Nielsen Mobile.
The division of The Nielsen Company found that 23% of U.S. mobile users reported seeing an ad on their phone in the past 30 days, and 51% of all data users who recalled seeing a marketing message responded to the ad “in some way.” The number of data users who recalled seeing mobile advertising between the second and fourth quarters of 2007 increased 38%, from 42 million to 58 million users, according to the report, and teens were the most likely age group to remember seeing mobile ads.
The most popular ad response was sending a text message, with 26% of those who reported seeing an ad responded via SMS. Only 9% said they used click-to-call features to respond to an ad.
And just as consumers are becoming more aware of ads, they’re beginning to expect them: 23% of those polled said they anticipate viewing more ads in the future, up from 15% a year ago.
Meanwhile, 32% of data users said they’re open to mobile ads if they lower the overall bill, and only 13% said they’d tolerate ads if they improve “the media and content currently available.”
“We see an increasing trend of consumers willing to trade off and receive advertising to gain more — and better — mobile content,” said Jeff Herrmann, VP of Mobile Media at Nielsen Mobile. “Successful mobile marketers will meet the challenge offered by consumers by engaging with them in a way that adds value to the mobile user content experience.”
The report comes on the heels of a flurry of ad-related activity at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain, last month.