Nielsen Wire » M&Ms

Cellphones and Global Youth: Mobile Internet and Messaging Trends

Nielsen Wire — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:51:00 +0000

Young people around the world love their mobile phones, but they use them in vastly different ways.

In China, the mobile internet reigns supreme. Seventy-three percent of Chinese mobile youth ages 15-24 reported using the mobile internet in the previous 30 days compared to 48 percent of U.S. mobile youth and 46 percent of U.K. youth. (Less than a quarter of young people in other European countries said they used the mobile internet in the previous month.)

Messaging tends to skew female in most markets, with a few notable exceptions: Indian males ages 15-24 are twice as likely as their female counterparts to use text messaging and four times more likely to use picture messaging. China and Saudi Arabia also skew male when it comes to messaging, but by a more narrow margin.

For more information on Mobile Youth Around the World, download the Nielsen report: Mobile Youth Around the World.

Mobile Media More Popular With Dems Than Republicans

admin — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:52:39 +0000

Barack Obama’s campaign made political history when it used text-messaging to announce Joe Biden’s V.P. selection to 2.9 million mobile users. Obama’s campaign also maintains a mobile website with news, video, and downloads.

In contrast, John McCain’s campaign has largely eschewed mobile marketing. But that may just be the right strategy, according to Nielsen Mobile, which reported Monday that mobile advertising is a more efficient way to reach Democrats, rather than Republicans.

As of the second quarter of 2008, mobile media of all types were slightly more popular among Democrats, who were more likely than their Republican counterparts to use data services on their mobile phones, send text messages, or use mobile Internet, according to Nielsen.

Data Type	Mobile Media Use: Democrats (past 30 days)	Mobile Media Use: Republicans (past 30 days)
Data User	61.6%	54.6%
Non-data User	38.4%	45.4%
Text Messaging/SMS	52.5%	46.0%
Picture Messaging/MMS	26.5%	21.2%
Ringtone downloads	18.5%	12.9%
Mobile Internet	17.2%	13.1%
Email	15.8%	12.8%
Software/Application downloads	11.0%	8.2%
Instant Messaging	10.9%	7.2%
Game downloads	7.7%	5.7%
Location-based services/GPS	6.2%	5.8%
Video/Mobile TV	4.4%	2.5%
Source: The Nielsen Company (September 29, 2008).

View the full media alert.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in MediaPost, Wireless and Mobile News, and Fierce Mobile Content.

New M&M’s Capitalize On Premium Chocolate Craze

admin — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 15:17:42 +0000

Mars Snackfood is introducing a new line of premium M&M’s, The New York Times reported Thursday.

The premium sweets, which have shed their traditional candy coating, come in five new flavors: mint chocolate, mocha, triple chocolate, raspberry almond, and chocolate almond.

The Times reported that Mars hopes the new M&M’s will capitalize on the current demand for higher priced chocolate. The story noted that Premium chocolate sales grew 17.8% for the year ended June 14, compared with 1.4% for non-premium chocolate, according to Nielsen.