Harris Interactive, a market research company has announced the results of new research into consumer acceptance of mobile phone advertisements. The research looked at current levels of consumer interest in mobile phone advertisements, preferred advertising methods and the willingness of consumers to be profiled.
“Historically, U.S. mobile phone users have been resistant to receiving mobile phone advertisements, but, according to our research, cell phone users are more willing than ever to receive advertising,” said Judith Ricker, President of the Marketing Communications Research Practice at Harris Interactive. “To make their mobile campaigns more effective, advertisers should take note of how cell phone users are most interested in being contacted. Advertisements need to have a clear value proposition, be relevant and allow recipients to control how they are profiled.”
According to the study, 35 percent of adult cell phone users are comfortable with accepting incentive-based advertisements Seventy-eight percent said the best incentive would be cash, while 63 percent would prefer free minutes and 40 percent who favored free entertainment downloads or discount coupons.
The survey also found that 56 percent of those who were at least somewhat interested in receiving ads on their cell phones would prefer the ads to be in the form of a text message. Forty percent said they would like the ads to be picture messages, while only 24 percent would want videos.
When it comes to privacy 70 percent said they would be willing to provide information about themselves to mobile providers in exchange for the ability to customize the service to their needs. Among them, 30 percent would receive ads for the right incentive,
