Google has the #1 app in terms of reach for 5 out of top 7 genres, while Facebook dominates social networking

Google properties occupy the top spot in five of the top seven genres, by reach. Facebook and Nimbuzz lead the social networking and chat genres respectively.

Google does well in time spent with the top app categories
Google apps dominate in terms of time spent for streaming video, GPS, email, and search. 94% of time spent on streaming video goes to YouTube, while 86% of time spent on GPS is with Google. However, when it comes to social networking and chat applications, Google struggles to obtain more than a few percentage points of time spent.

Google apps dominate across age groups
Google Apps have a fairly uniform usage across age groups indicating the success Google has had in establishing itself with all mobile users.

About Nielsen Informate Mobile Insights
Nielsen Informate Mobile Insights leverages innovative smartphone metering technology to provide insights into evolving consumption patterns of mobile device users. Based on accurate, real-time usage data, we help clients understand consumer behavior and develop product and marketing strategies. Nielsen Informate Mobile Insights maintains opt-in smartphone panels to generate syndicated reports, in addition to building custom panels and conducting custom surveys for clients. Our insights aid decision makers across various segments like operators, OEMs, publishers, advertisers, content creators and aggregators and application developers.

While Internet usage is moving toward maturity and online activities are ingrained in consumers’ everyday lives, a new dimension is rapidly expanding—that of Internet-capable mobile devices, including smartphones, tablet computers, eBook readers, connected games devices or other hybrid forms likely to emerge in the near future. The upcoming year’s anticipated surge of mobile device ownership, particularly smartphones, will have a profound impact on the digital behavior of Hong Kong consumers.

Mobile Application – The Rising Trend
Almost nine-in-ten (86%) Hong Kong digital consumers who have accessed the Internet via their mobile phones have downloaded an app (application) to their phones. And following the footprint of smartphones, tablets are another potential game changer, but the larger screen size is attracting a slightly different pattern of behavior.

On-demand, anytime, anywhere access to the Internet is also impacting social media use, which has revolutionized the way consumers communicate, share information, entertain themselves and others, socialize, form relationships and source information. Social media has provided more customer touch points, more methods of content and communication distribution and more information about customers and their preferences.

For more detail and insight, download Nielsen’s Hong Kong Digital Behavior Insights report.

Messaging remains the centerpiece of mobile teen behavior.  The number of messages exchanged monthly (SMS and MMS) hit 3,417 per teen in Q3 2011, averaging seven messages per waking hour.  Teen females are holding the messaging front, sending and receiving 3,952 messages per month versus 2,815 from males.  Aside from messaging, data heavy activities such as mobile internet, social networking, email, app downloads, and app usage are the most popular mobile activities.

Teens are not focused on making calls via their mobile phones. Voice usage has declined the most among this group, from an average of 685 minutes to 572 minutes. When surveyed, the top three reasons teens said that they prefer messaging to calling was because it is faster (22 percent), easier (21 percent), and more fun (18 percent).

For more mobile insights, download State of the Media: The Mobile Media Report Q3 2011.

On October 4, at Advertising Week, Nielsen hosted a panel discussion on “How Mobile is Changing Sports Media & Marketing.” One panelist dubbed the mobile phone the “first screen” because it’s always on and—more importantly—it’s always with you. For sports fans, that means instant score updates, fantasy sports at your fingertips and connecting with your favorite teams and athletes via social media, all without leaving the stadium, the train or your favorite armchair.

Jonathan Carson, Nielsen’s CEO of Digital moderated the discussion. Below are some highlights from the panel.

Jonathan Carson: We’ve said that mobile is the perfect platform for sports and sports apps are perfect for mobile. Can you elaborate on that?

David Coletti, VP, Digital Media Research & Analytics, ESPN: The perfect marriage is between mobile and sports. We see data that backs that up… The past two NFL Sundays, we had 10 million people use our mobile sites and 13 million using espn.com. In September, usage of ESPN’s mobile sites and applications represented 4.5 billion minutes of usage. All of that shows the power of the platform… and the market is far from saturated.

Clark Pierce, SVP, Digital Content, Fox Sports: We did research earlier this year that showed people go to their devices at least 100 times per day.

Doug Smoyer, VP, Business Development, New York Giants:

Super Bowl XLII was four years ago but “eons ago” in terms of mobile. After the Eagles game two weeks ago, the Giants shared a picture of the team in the locker room following the win. In just two hours, the picture received more than 40,000 “likes” on Facebook. It was incredible.

Jonathan Carson: What is it about mobile that changes the game?

Rob Master, VP, Media, Unilever: We are rethinking the model of the best available screen. Interaction goes well beyond that biggest screen… figuring out the best content, best message, best place.

Jonathan Carson: How does simultaneous usage, particularly for sports, impact your businesses?

David Coletti, ESPN: We launched ESPN XP to measure ad effectiveness across platforms. When you look at the different objectives that an ad campaign might have… each media pulls different levers. It’s about how we best mix your media. Creative in context is vitally important.

Rob Master, Unilever: Unilever has been marketing more to men thanks to the launch of several men’s lines, including Vaseline Men, Dove Men+Care and Axe (“helping guys in the mating game”).  Men and sports are a nice combination, marriage… We follow where our consumer goes. For sports, if we do it right with the right content, we win.

Jonathan Carson: How does mobile change your approach to sports marketing?

Mark Rooks, Sr. Director, Sports Marketing, Pepsi

We are always looking for new ways to engage consumers. Pepsi recently partnered with IntoNow. Around the launch of our MLB Field of Dreams ad, we asked consumers to use their mobile device to identify our ad, consumers were then sent cool interactive content and value offers. Mobile and social are also affecting how brands look at celebrity sponsorships. We now always look at a celebrity’s social activity and following. A second- or third-tier athlete who is incredibly active online can be a very efficient choice.

Jonathan Carson: Are you facing any particular challenges in the mobile space?

Doug Smoyer, New York Giants: Not every marketer is built or equipped the same… People don’t know what they want. They just know they want it.

The conversation might not always be what you want it to be. The Giants partnered with Walgreens for a flu shot campaign. After a loss, they received some negative comments during the campaign. If the team’s not performing well, you need to expect that.

Jonathan Carson: What’s coming up?

Rob Master, Unilever: How do we deliver more specific and relevant content by screen?

David Coletti, ESPN: It’s critically important that we have the power to measure… It unlocks more spending.

Clark Pierce, Fox Sports: We plan to work more with Facebook and Twitter. Also, the development of the HTML 5 platform will be interesting, specifically the security of video. This can create competition. Does a content provider develop an App and an HTML5 site or both?

Mark Rooks, Pepsi: Continued penetration growth and scale as well as contextual opportunities.  Being able to deliver our content the right way at the right time and location.  So for example, being able to recognize a fan in a stadium and reward them real time with experiences, content or product offers.

Doug Smoyer, New York Giants: The key is how we activate. For 2012, the goal it to find the right brand to go and activate a Foursquare partnership … a retail partner in the city of New York.

With mobile broadband becoming more widely available and affordable, it’s not surprising that a growing number of Malaysians are accessing the Internet via notebooks and smartphones.  More than half of consumers (55%) are using laptops and netbooks while eleven percent said they are using smartphones – a nine point gain from 2009. Almost two in ten (19%) Malaysians aged 20-24 access the Internet via their mobile phones.

“Although mobile phones accounted for the smallest portion of the three devices, market share will increase due to the importance of three key consumer requirements: mobility, flexibility and accessibility anywhere and anytime,” said Luca Griseri, Director of Customized Research at The Nielsen Company.

The penetration of 3G phones is a key factor in the increasing use of phones to access the Internet.  Almost half of Malaysians aged 20-34 own one. But almost half of these users do not use 3G functions, primarily due to cost. That should change, however, as service providers offer more competitive pricing schemes.

“The main trends started last year, such as the uptake of smartphones and the increasing usage of data will continue. At the same time, new trends, for example the success of tablet computers will further change the market and affect consumers’ expectations,” Griseri said. “Telecommunications players can position themselves to accommodate these changes by continuing to offer the latest products and services and focusing on the customer experience.  They need to adopt a focused approach around users’ needs by identifying differences among user groups and offer solutions for them. Flexibility and simplicity are key success factors.”

To better understand the growing popularity of mobile apps, The Nielsen Company launched the Mobile Apps Playbook in December 2009. The most recent version is now available. “The State of Mobile Apps,” features select highlights from the report and is based on an August 2010 survey of more than 4,000 mobile subscribers who had reported downloading a mobile app in the previous 30 days.

One of the main challenges facing apps publishers is making sure consumers “discover” their apps. According to Nielsen’s survey, searching application stores on their phones is the preferred way for discovering new apps for users of feature phones and smartphones alike (57% and 40%, respectively). The next most popular “preferred” form of app discovery is through the recommendation of a family member or friend. However, smartphone apps users are more likely than feature phone users to seek out other ways of discovering new mobile apps.

For more facts and insights on mobile app usage, mobile advertising and who’s paying for apps, download Nielsen’s “The State of Mobile Apps.”

On the streets of Guangzhou, Harbin and Shanghai, the mobile phone has become ubiquitous.  Once the domain of the elite, it now seems that just about everybody has one.  Widespread ownership of mobiles is only a fairly recent development in China, but consumers there have fully embraced the technology and in some ways are using it more robustly than their American and European counterparts.

For many people in China, the mobile Web is the only one they need. When they think of the Web, they don’t think of tethering themselves to a desktop PC and the accessories of mice, keyboards, mouse pads, printers and monitors. Not only do many homes in China not have (or need) landlines for voice communications, but also they don’t require hardwired Internet access for their fix of the Web. With mobile phones, everything they need is in the palm of their hand.

In a short amount of time, mobile consumers in China have surpassed their American counterparts when it comes to using the devices to access the Internet (38% of Chinese mobile subscribers compared to 27% of American mobile subscribers), despite less advanced networks.  Whether it’s kids in Beijing downloading games or adults in Shanghai requiring real-time information about the stock market and the ability to act on it on the go, the mobile Web is becoming an integral part of Chinese life.

To gauge where this important market stands – and where potential opportunities lie for retailers, device manufacturers, service providers and content producers – The Nielsen Company has just released its most recent Mobile Insights Report on China.  The report offers a glimpse into just how powerful the opportunity is to satisfy the needs of mobile Internet users in China.  These are just some of the highlights.

Who is Using Mobile Phones and What Are They Looking For?
Today, there are 755 million cell phone subscribers in China – more than half of the population. That makes China the world’s largest mobile device market.  That number will (of course) only rise as the populace becomes more affluent.  Nielsen found that the split between the sexes was almost equal: women comprised 49% of users while men made up 51%.  Adults aged 25-34 and 35-44 made up the largest percentage of users (23% each).

The majority of consumers (54%) used their devices for advanced data such as e-mail, gaming and music, while 36% used their phones for text/SMS and voice only (another 10% said they used their phones for calls only).

With the consolidation of the telecom market in China over the past year, three carriers now dominate the market. China Mobile is the clear leader with more than 70% market share, followed by China Unicom and China Telecom.

In terms of handset brands, Nokia dominates followed by Samsung and Motorola.   However, the real story is that the top international brands are losing share to local brands that have designed low cost phones with features that appeal to Chinese consumers, such as extra loud volume settings, funky shapes and designs and extra long battery life.  This trend has been accentuated by the government’s requirement that leading operator China Mobile deploy a 3G technology (TD-SCDMA) that is not used in other markets- forcing global device brands to make difficult choices about whether to develop devices for this new standard.

While price was the most important factor for consumers when considering buying a new device, we see increasing interest in device style and device features as well as considerable brand loyalty.

The average Chinese mobile user spent just over US$ 10 per month for their service (for context, US$500 is considered a good blue collar wage in China’s more prosperous urban areas) .  Men spent more than women, while consumers using their device primarily for business spent the most.   As youth 24-35 are the biggest data users, it is not surprising that they are the biggest spending age group as well.

How Are Chinese Using Their Mobile Phones?

Both pre- and post-paid subscribers used their devices for text messaging/SMS (87% and 80% respectively).  Games were the second most popular followed by the mobile Internet and are also more prevalent among post-paid subscribers.  Video services such as mobile TV, messaging and video calling were used by only a small percentage of users, largely due to network speed issues.  Once 3G expands, it is likely that these services will gain in popularity.

It’s perhaps not surprising that Chinese youth surf the net while on the go more than adults – they’ve grown up with the Internet.  Likewise, urban dwellers – with access to better network coverage – use their mobiles for Internet access more than their rural counterparts.

Market Opportunities
While almost 40% of Chinese phone users access the mobile Internet, they don’t use as many data intensive applications such as mobile video and content uploads.  There are a number of reasons for this: 3G launched just last year; penetration of smartphones such as the iPhone and Android is still low; the Mobile Application ecosystem remains fragmented, and social networking platforms are less developed.  However, as mobile penetration is just crossing 50%, China’s fixed phone line connections are decreasing as more users “cut the cord” and access to the Internet via computers is less prevalent than in the U.S. The demand for mobile devices and data will continue to expand, leading to many opportunities for service providers, device manufacturers, retailers and content providers.

China’s growth over the last decade has been extraordinary and shows few signs of abating any time soon.  As such, it’s only natural that Chinese consumers would wholeheartedly adopt technology and products that enable them to be productive – and stay connected – on the move.

China versus the U.S.: How usage differs
In China, the vast majority of mobile consumers (87%) use pre-paid plans.  In the U.S., less than 20% of mobile consumers use them, as most Americans prefer subscribing to post-paid plans.  Even though Chinese have less 3G network coverage and own fewer smartphones, they tend to use their mobile phones to access the Internet while on the go more than Americans (38% vs. 27%).  Chinese also texted (86% vs. 64%), and instant messaged (23% vs. 16%) more often.  Meanwhile, Americans used their mobile devices more than Chinese for e-mail (25% vs. 8%) and picture messaging (37% vs. 22%).

Because 3G development in the U.S. is widespread, Americans used bandwidth-intensive applications such as content uploads, video messaging and mobile video more than Chinese.  Americans also visited a wider variety of sites, although health/fitness, education/employment and automotive sites were more popular in China than in the U.S.

Nielsen’s Mobile Insights Report on China is based on face-to-face surveys with 4,946 consumers age 15 and up in 19 cities around China.  The interviews were conducted in March 2010.

Recession or not, for good reason there is no shortage of innovation in the mobile media industry (e.g. iPhone 3.0, the upcoming Palm Pre). The bottom line: consumers still want more! According to recent research across the U.S. and Western Europe conducted by The Nielsen Company on behalf of Tellabs, consumers are still bullish on the use of the mobile device beyond voice calling services and plan on continuing to adopt and use mobile data services. Of the 200 million current users of advanced mobile data services across the U.S. and Europe, almost 60% intend to use mobile data services more in the next 24 months, and of the millions of non-users, more than 25% intent to adopt mobile data services in the next 24 months.

Not only are U.S. users leading in their expectation of use of the mobile internet, but also in their frequency of use. Seventy one percent of current users expect to use the mobile internet daily, if not several times a day, whereas 41% of Europeans expect to have such a high frequency of use.

What’s driving this trend is consumer’s expectation of how using mobile data services will add convenience and improve their lifestyle, and how this aligns with current capabilities of the mobile platform. Making consumer’s lives easier is the most important factor driving increased use in the U.S.

When conducting the research, we also looked at other lifestyle factors including work, entertainment and socializing. The “work” lifestyle was also a big factor in boosting use of select mobile data services in the U.S. These differences emerge even in the use of software/applications – entertainment was more of a driving factor for use in France, Germany and Spain, but was not as relevant in the U.S.

Given the current capability of the mobile platform and consumer’s current perception of how they would use it, keep your eyes on mobile marketing applications focused on convenience (shopping, coupons, and commerce) first and pure entertainment down the road.

Television
-Men typically watch less TV than women their age — with one exception: male teens actually watch more TV than female teens.  Men ages 18 to 34 tend to watch more cable and pay channels, while women gravitate to broadcast networks.

-When it comes to sports programming on TV, men 18-34 are more attentive viewers (+12%) than women of the same age.  But when non-sports programming is on, the reverse is true: males 18-34 are 6% less attentive than their female counterparts.

-In general, men 18-34 are less attentive viewers of both sports (-8%) and non-sports (-10%) TV programs than older men ages 35 and up.

-Men 18-34 are also more receptive to product placements within TV programming than females their age; they report 26% higher brand opinion improvement for advertisers integrated into TV programs.

Online
-Online streaming videos of full-length TV episodes hold the attention of men 18-34 much more than the same programs on TV.

-In general, men 18-34 view more Web pages each month than women their same age (2,353 vs. 2,305 in August 2008).  Men 18-34 also view 63% more individual video streams than women their age (1.4 million vs. 893,000 streams in August 2008).  For their part, women typically spend more minutes watching videos online than men (4.1 minutes vs. 2.4 minutes), who prefer short-form videos on consumer-generated media sites like YouTube. 

Mobile
-Male mobile subscribers ages 18 to 34 are three times as likely as average mobile subscribers to watch video on their phones, and twice as likely as average mobile users to access the mobile Web.

-In Q2 2008, male mobile subscribers ages 18-34 sent and received more than twice as many text messages (531 texts on average, per month) as phone calls (246 calls on average, per month), while women 18-34 made slightly more mobile phone calls than men their age (251 vs. 246 calls per month).


Video Games
-Men ages 18 to 34 averaged approximately 19 gaming sessions in August, with the average session lasting about 66 minutes.  Among all males, men 18-34 accounted for 35% of all minutes played on gaming consoles in August.

-In comparison, women 18-34 logged fewer gaming sessions in August (just over 10, on average), but — like their male counterparts — averaged about 65 minutes of play per session.  Women 18-34 accounted for 39% of all minutes played by females on gaming consoles in August.

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.

View the full media alert.

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