Nielsen to measure mobile media usage

Link: The Nielsen Company :: Nielsen to Measure the Mobile Media Consumer

American research company Nielsen today announced it’ll begin measuring mobile phone users through a new service called Nielsen Wireless. This service will measure how many people use content services such as mobile Internet and mobile video and what impact this has on established media behavior.

“The value of an entertainment medium is directly proportional to how well it is measured,” said Herrmann. “Reliable and accurate measurement of mobile consumers will enable advertisers to properly evaluate the mobile marketing opportunity. This new mobile measurement service demonstrates Nielsen’s continued commitment to follow content wherever consumers take it. Independent measurement of the cross-media behavior of the growing mobile audience will support and accelerate the evolution of mobile media business models.”

Understandable independent metrics are good. They help educate and persuade buyers, strengthens the industry’s offering, and help turn a technology into a saleable item.

The announcement also coincides with the release of some interesting statistics about mobile video usage in the USA.

— At least 7% of 18-34 year-olds viewed mobile video programming in the first quarter of 2007 while at least 25% used their mobile phone to connect to the Internet

  — As of May 31, more than half, 55%, of primary users of video-enabled mobile phones lived in households with total incomes of $75,000 or above.

  — Subscribers to different carriers vary in terms of cable status: people in Sprint households were 30% more likely than people in T-mobile households to have a digital broadcast satellite (DBS) system. People in Verizon Wireless households are 26% more likely to have digital cable service in their home (39% of Verizon Wireless household persons had wired digital cable compared to 31% of U.S. Persons 2+).