BIGresearch: Not all consumers turned on by mobile marketing

Mobile marketing may not be as acceptable to consumers as once thought according to a survey recently conducted by BIGresearch, except perhaps among 39-year-old men.

by Helen Leggatt

bigresearch logo.gif Earlier this month HipCricket released research that showed many consumers are unhappy with the lack of mobile advertising on their personal devices. However, new research from BIGresearch provides a rather different take-out.

After surveying over 22,000 consumers, BIGresearch's analysts found that the percentage of people who dislike mobile marketing has increased. In June, 2008, 64% of people said they didn't like text ads, that figure has now risen to 67%. Likewise, dislike of voicemail ads is up to 60% from 57% and 60% don't like video ads, up from 56%.

Marketers, take note. More people also perceive mobile ads as an invasion of privacy - up from 49.5% in 2008 to 52.1% this year.

"Marketers are excited about the potential of mobile marketing, but they need to beware," said BIGresearch's Gary Drenik. "Cell phones are perceived by consumers as a very personal form of media and unwanted messaging could be interpreted as an invasion of privacy. There is a risk in the mobile space of turning consumers off and have a negative impact on ROI."

Another key finding from the survey is that the primary audience for mobile advertising is male - representing 58% of the total audience - with an overall median age of just over 39 years of age.

Tags: consumer privacy, consumer survey, mobile advertising, mobile marketing, research