M:Metrics Unveils Industry's First Definitive Mobile Marketing Metrics

Measurement Firm Finds That 36.5 Million Mobile Subscribers Responded via SMS to an Ad

Across the five countries for which it measures mobile content consumption, M:Metrics found that monthly use of text message short codes in response to ads was as high as 29.1 percent of mobile subscribers. The firm, which today released the first definitive metrics for mobile advertising, found that a sizable percentage of mobile subscribers are responding to short codes placed in advertisements or in other media, with Spain topping the list at 29.1 percent, followed by the UK at 18.5 percent, France at 10.1 percent, the United States at 7 percent and Germany at 3.4 percent.

"These numbers are not unlike what we saw in e-mail response during the mid-1990s as the Web emerged an advertising medium," said Will Hodgman, CEO, M:Metrics, who also founded AdRelevance, the global standard for advertising measurement on the Internet. "The growing adoption of major brands using SMS and the substantial consumer response rates indicate a couple of important trends: mobile as a commercial medium is on steroids; and multimedia convergence is real."

Source of Short Code Ad: August 2006

                    France               Germany               Spain
             Projected     %       Projected     %      Projected      %
               Subs     Segment      Subs     Segment     Subs      Segment
Television    3,212,330    7.5       865,250     1.9     6,632,898     21.7
Radio           502,843    1.2       154,542     0.3       728,929      2.4
Magazine        967,628    2.3       271,888     0.6     1,139,167      3.7
Newspaper       263,838    0.6       150,288     0.3       605,246      2.0
Unknown         291,291    0.7       313,328     0.7     1,094,403      3.6

Source: M:Metrics. Copyright © 2006. Survey of French, German and
Spanish mobile subscribers. Data based on three-month moving average
for period ending August 2006, n= 12,458, French, n=15,078 German,
n= 12,228 Spanish. mobile subscribers


Source of Short Code Ad: August 2006

                       UK                      US
             Projected       %       Projected       %
               Subs       Segment      Subs       Segment
Television    4,747,001     10.9      8,740,129      4.5
Radio         1,025,866      2.4      2,074,555      1.1
Magazine      1,079,488      2.5      1,837,851      0.9
Newspaper       594,052      1.4        775,950      0.4
Unknown       1,015,634      2.3      2,385,117      1.2

Source: M:Metrics. Copyright © 2006. Survey of UK and U.S. mobile
subscribers. Data based on three-month moving average for period ending
August 2006 n= 15,051 UK, n= 35,016 U.S. mobile subscribers.

Contests are the leading driver of short code usage, such as game or reality television shows or chances to win free merchandise, with 18 million subscribers across the geographies reporting they participated. Again, Spain shows the highest rate of participation, at 17.8 percent, followed by the UK at 10.6 percent.

Type of Short Code: August 2006

                    France               Germany             Spain
             Projected     %      Projected     %     Projected      %
               Subs     Segment     Subs     Segment    Subs      Segment
Contest       2,369,351    5.5      703,319     1.6    5,434,395     17.8
Downloads
for device   1,074,209    2.5      448,846     1.0    2,899,149      9.5
Entertainment 1,252,033    2.9      206,281     0.5      741,923      2.4
News            351,838    0.8      190,832     0.4      458,548      1.5

Source: M:Metrics. Copyright © 2006. Survey of French, German and
Spanish mobile subscribers. Data based on three-month moving average
for period ending August 2006, n= 12,458, French, n=15,078 German,
n= 12,228 Spanish. mobile subscribers


Type of Short Code: August 2006

                       UK                      US
             Projected       %       Projected       %
               Subs       Segment      Subs       Segment
Contest       4,603,128     10.6     4,872,668       2.5
Downloads
for device   1,302,113      3.0     5,302,334       2.7
Entertainment 1,255,263      2.9     3,567,218       1.8
News            501,434      1.2     2,085,459       1.1

Source: M:Metrics. Copyright © 2006. Survey of UK and U.S. mobile
subscribers. Data based on three-month moving average for period ending
August 2006 n= 15,051 UK, n= 35,016 U.S. mobile subscribers

The numbers for those who received an SMS ad are even greater. In Spain, 66.8 percent of mobile subscribers reported receiving an SMS ad. France follows at 50.1 percent, then the UK at 36.8 percent, Germany at 29.6 percent and the United States at 12.8 percent. The largest source of the ads by a wide margin is mobile operators.

"Remember the early days of the Internet, when spam was still a meat by-product?" asks Hodgman. "At that time your Internet service provider was the major commercial e-mailer in promoting their services. It appears that the mobile operator is functioning in the same capacity today on mobile. It will not be long before brand advertisers supersede the mobile operators, though, given the robust activity and consumer response rates we are already seeing in the medium after only a few years of the existence of common short codes."

French Mobile Subscriber Monthly Consumption of Content and Applications
M:Metrics Benchmark Survey: August 2006

Activity                       Subscribers (000s)    Percent  % Change
Sent Text Message                 30,312              70.5%     2.5%
Used Photo Messaging               8,797              20.5%     5.0%
Browsed News and Information       3,867               9.0%     2.9%
Purchased Ringtone                 2,594               6.0%    -0.8%
Used Personal E-Mail               2,532               5.9%     0.4%
Used Mobile Instant Messenger      1,291               3.0%     2.3%
Purchased Wallpaper or Screensaver 1,093               2.5%    -2.0%
Used Work E-Mail                     794               1.8%    -7.8%
Downloaded Mobile Game               491               1.1%     0.1%

Source: M:Metrics, Inc., Copyright © 2006. Survey of French mobile
subscribers. Data based on three-month moving average for period ending
31 August, 2006, n= 12,458

German Mobile Subscriber Monthly Consumption of Content and Applications
M:Metrics Benchmark Survey: August 2006

Activity                       Subscribers (000s)    Percent  % Change
Sent Text Message                 36,388              80.9%     2.5%
Used Photo Messaging               9,239              20.5%     3.0%
Purchased Ringtone                 2,888               6.4%    -1.6%
Used Personal E-Mail               2,477               5.5%    -3.2%
Browsed News and Information       1,741               3.9%     2.1%
Used Mobile Instant Messenger      1,425               3.2%    -6.6%
Purchased Wallpaper or Screensaver 1,240               2.8%    -1.6%
Used Work E-Mail                   1,189               2.6%    -7.1%
Downloaded Mobile Game             1,157               2.6%    -0.9%

Source: M:Metrics, Inc., Copyright © 2006. Survey of German mobile
subscribers. Data based on three-month moving average for period ending
31 August, 2006, n= 15,078


Spanish Mobile Subscriber Monthly Consumption of Content and Applications
M:Metrics Benchmark Survey: August 2006

Activity                       Subscribers (000s)    Percent  % Change
Sent Text Message                 25,392              83.3%     1.6%
Used Photo Messaging               8,671              28.4%     8.0%
Used Personal E-Mail               2,804               9.2%     5.6%
Purchased Ringtone                 2,771               9.1%     4.0%
Browsed News and Information       2,264               7.4%     5.3%
Used Mobile Instant Messenger      2,164               7.1%     0.5%
Used Work E-Mail                   1,578               5.2%     0.8%
Downloaded Mobile Game             1,475               4.8%     7.4%
Purchased Wallpaper or Screensaver 1,063               3.5%    -8.2%

Source: M:Metrics, Inc., Copyright © 2006. Survey of Spanish mobile
subscribers. Data based on three-month moving average for period ending
31 August, 2006, n= 12,231

U.K. Mobile Subscriber Monthly Consumption of Content and Applications
M:Metrics Benchmark Survey: August 2006

Activity                       Subscribers (000s)    Percent  % Change
Sent Text Message                 37,062              85.2%     2.3%
Used Photo Messaging              13,363              30.7%     3.8%
Browsed News and Information       6,273              14.4%     0.7%
Used Personal E-Mail               2,723               6.3%     0.1%
Purchased Ringtone                 2,414               5.6%     3.1%
Downloaded Mobile Game             1,818               4.2%     4.7%
Used Mobile Instant Messenger      1,613               3.7%     1.8%
Used Work E-Mail                   1,319               3.0%     1.6%
Purchased Wallpaper or Screensaver   968               2.2%     2.4%

Source: M:Metrics, Inc., Copyright © 2006. Survey of U.K. mobile
subscribers. Data based on three-month moving average for period ending
31 August, 2006, n= 15,051

U.S. Mobile Subscriber Monthly Consumption of Content and Applications
M:Metrics Benchmark Survey: August 2006

Activity                       Subscribers (000s)    Percent  % Change
Sent Text Message                 73,635              38.0%     3.9%
Used Photo Messaging              28,218              14.5%     8.2%
Browsed News and Information      22,766              11.7%     9.9%
Purchased Ringtone                20,146              10.4%    2.20%
Used Personal E-Mail              16,890               8.7%    10.1%
Used Mobile Instant Messenger     14,449               7.4%    10.9%
Used Work E-Mail                   9,901               5.1%    11.0%
Purchased Wallpaper or Screensaver 7,092               3.7%     7.3%
Downloaded Mobile Game             6,264               3.2%    10.5%

Source: M:Metrics, Inc., Copyright © 2006. Survey of U.S. mobile
subscribers. Data based on three-month moving average for period ending
31 August, 2006, n= 35,016

About M:Metrics

M:Metrics is the mobile market measurement authority. As the only research firm to measure the audience for mobile media, M:Metrics provides the most accurate metrics on actual mobile content consumption by applying trusted media measurement methodologies to the mobile market. M:Metrics' monthly syndicated data service gives clients the critical insights and intelligence required to inform smart business strategies and the competitive benchmarks needed to evaluate the performance of competitors and partners. M:Metrics is a private, venture-funded corporation headquartered in Seattle, with offices in San Francisco and London.