-Each month, 10.3 million U.S. mobile phone subscribers access video content via their phones — up 14% from 2007

-Still, mobile video use in the U.S. remains low (5% of all subscribers), compared to other mobile media

-Among mobile video users, Apple’s iPhone is the most popular phone: as of Q3 2008, 11% of all streaming video users were using an Apple iPhone, and 35% of iPhone users reported regularly using mobile video (compared to about 5% of all mobile subscribers)

-Mobile Web video has fast become the most popular means (66% of mobile video users) of mobile video consumption – however, many mobile video users continue to pay for access to a video service (42% of mobile video users)

-YouTube was the leading Web video provider in Q3 2008, accessed by about three million U.S. mobile subscribers — the Web video giant’s mobile audience grew by 277% from October 2007 to October 2008

-Subscriptions to mobile video are also growing – from 13.2 million in Q3 2007 to 16.4 million in Q3 2008

-Usage frequency among mobile video users is relatively low (17 videos per month median), but overall satisfaction with the mobile video experience is high among current users — as of Q3 2008, 71% of mobile video viewers said they were satisfied with their mobile video experience

Download a copy of Nielsen’s new white paper, “Tuned into the Phone: Mobile Video Use in the U.S. and Abroad.”

Read more about who’s watching mobile video and what they’re watching in the January 2009 issue of Nielsen’s “Consumer Insight” online newsletter.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in Mediaweek.

According to a report released Monday by Nielsen’s Telecom Practice, Americans should expect to see more text message marketing in the future.  Given the immense popularity of texting in the U.S. and abroad, it’s not surprising that marketers have ramped up their use of the medium to engage their customers — where there’s an audience, marketers are not far behind.

So far, Nielsen’s report notes, marketers have used short code marketing in a tight but creative range of ways: from simple information messaging, to rewards programming, to couponing, and even direct SMS purchasing.

Coca-Cola’s My Coke Rewards program, which had engaged 1.1 million AT&T and Verizon Wireless customers as of Q3 2008, according to Nielsen, is a notable example.  Subway, Arby’s, Jiffy Lube, BestBuy, Papa Johns, Village Inn, and other major brands have also provided special offers through text and multimedia messaging.

Short codes are also changing the way Americans engage with traditional media.  Participation TV falls into this realm — with “American Idol” being the most prominent example of viewers engaging with a TV program over text messaging.

Radio listeners are also increasingly being called to action via text message.  In Q2 2008, for example, Nielsen’s tracking of short codes showed more than a million transactions with the short code “A-L-I-C-E” (or 25423), a short code assigned to the station Alice 97.3 KLLC-FM in San Francisco.  Alice listeners are frequently invited to send text messages directly to the studio to make requests, win prizes, and enter polls. 

View Nielsen Telecom Practice’s full report.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in Wireless and Mobile News.

How do consumers feel about talking to brands via texting — the same way they talk with their friends and family?  Read more on Nielsen Wire.