99% of top U.S. magazines contained mobile action codes in Q1 2012

A whopping 99% of the top magazines, by circulation, in the US contained at least one mobile action code of one type or another in the first quarter of this year. That's up from 78% in the same period last year and 96% in Q4 2011.

The only magazine that featured no mobile action codes was Taste of Home.

Formats included QR codes and other 2D barcodes, digital watermarks, and Near Field Communication (NFC). QR codes were, by far, the most-used format accounting for over 80% of the magazines' printed mobile action codes, up from 72% in Q4 2011. All other codes combined had less than 10% share.

Furthermore, Nellymoser reports that, in each month in the first quarter of 2012, over 8% of magazine advertising pages contained a mobile action code, up significantly from 3.55% in March, 2011. Most codes (85%) were placed at the bottom of a page, the traditional location for a call-to-action.

When scanned, over a third of codes (35%) took users to video content while 21% took users direct to a mobile commerce app/site, 20% to subscription/sweepstake and 18% to a social media sharing site.

"The fact that virtually every top 100 U.S. publication featured advertisements with mobile action codes in Q1 is evidence that they are an essential marketing tool for engaging readers and building brand loyalty," said Roger Matus, executive VP, Nellymoser. "Given the trajectory of growth we've seen to date, we anticipate an even faster rate of mobile action code adoption throughout 2012."

Tags: advertising, magazine, mobile action code, mobile ads, mobile marketing, print advertising, QR code