Everyone knows India, along with China, is one of the fastest growing mobile phone markets in the world. And now a new survey claims that as more and more mobile users switch to Internet enabled feature phones and smartphones, the mobile phone is turning out to be a serious competitor to the television and newspaper.
The survey carried out among a sample of mobile Internet users by ViziSense, an online audience and ad measurement platform says that with access to email (99%) and social media (95%) being the primary drivers of mobile internet, consumption of content is starting to shift in favor of mobiles and tablets.
Reuters
The results are based on the results of an online survey conducted with ViziSense India online panelists (Internet users with mobile phones) and has recorded responses from 2,024 users who access Internet through their cellphones. The extrapolation of data could perhaps be questioned, but the numbers are interesting nevertheless.
In a press release announcing the findings, Vizisense said the categories which see frequent or daily consumption on mobile Internet include news, games and entertainment, travel, education and search with almost 50% Mobile Internet users accessing this content through their cellphones.
Other key findings from the survey:
* 87 percent of all mobile internet users in India (estimated at 4.8 crores by IAMAI in their August 2011 Mobile Internet in India report),are online on mobile every day. Almost half of these users go online via their cellphones every 2-3 hours and the duration of these visits is often more than an hour
* Mobile Internet users are also easing into mobile ecommerce with almost 80% of the users having performed some form of financial transaction through their mobile phone – payment of utility bills, purchase of products and services, etc, while 28% of mobile internet users have even used ‘mobile money’.
The findings are significant not just from a business perspective, but also in terms of how media outlets will look at positioning themselves in the future. With some of the cheapest call rates in the world, along with a handset market that is getting increasingly crowded, content providers, be it media or otherwise, should undoubtedly look at the mobile platform as a key channel in which to project themselves in the future.
