A new report provides a snapshot of the current mobile media landscape and audiences in the U.S., and highlights the potential power of mobile commerce in the near future.

According to the latest edition of The Nielsen Company’s Apps Playbook, the average number of apps that smartphone apps downloaders have on their phones is now 27, up from 22 in December 2009.

Video consumption across multiple platforms is now a global phenomenon. Consumers in all regions are proving their insatiable appetite for video information and entertainment – thus far adding screens to their media mix, not replacing them.

Steve Hasker, Nielsen’s president of Media Product Leadership and Advertiser Solutions, discussed the outlook for media companies in 2010 with a focus on innovation, social networks, and mobile media.

The mobile media landscape has flourished into a full-blown marketplace for advertising, rich media content, ecommerce and unparalleled utility. How can advertisers leverage new opportunities now?

With Nielsen Business Media’s Marketing to Men 18-34 conference convening in New York City Tuesday and Wednesday, Nielsen assembled a full round-up of TV, online, mobile, and gaming data to illuminate how these younger male consumers use media.
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 …

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 Americans than ever before are buying smartphones and using mobile data services like text messaging, games, email, mobile Internet, video, and ringtones. 
But while mobile media use has grown rapidly in recent years, mobile advertising has been slow to take hold, Nielsen Mobile reported in a white paper released Tuesday.
In the U.S., some 76.8 million mobile users recall seeing advertising on their phones, according to Nielsen, but 63% report encountering mobile ads only infrequently — once a month or less.  Meanwhile, less than two-thirds of website homepage page views feature …