SOURCE: M:Metrics

 

SEATTLE, WA and LONDON--(Marketwire - January 15, 2008) - The rise in musicphones has spurred adoption of mobile music consumption across the United States and Western Europe, reports M:Metrics, the mobile media authority. The firm reports that sideloading accounts for 83 percent of mobile music usage across France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. Among other methods, sharing music outpaces full-track mobile downloading in the majority of these markets.

With the exceptions of Spain and the United States, more mobile music consumers listened to music that was shared (for example, between phones via Bluetooth), than was downloaded directly to the phone using a music service. France and the UK posted the highest frequency of this activity, accounting for 12.5 percent of those who listened to mobile music in the month. At the other end of the spectrum was Spain, with only 7.1 percent of mobile music users transferring music between devices.

"Mobile music is quickly catching on, and the fact that consumers are sharing music demonstrates its potential as a social, viral phenomenon centered on mobile handsets," said Jen Wu, analyst, M:Metrics. "The proliferation of musicphones is causing a shift in digital music toward the mobile platform, which opens numerous opportunities for music-related content, services, hardware and accessories built to accommodate or enhance these mobile music activities."

The measurement firm found that 10.7 percent of mobile subscribers across the six geographies reported listening to music on their mobile device, ranging from 5.7 percent in the United States to 20 percent in Spain.

Mobile Music Usage: November 2007

                        France  Germany  Italy   Spain    UK      US
                         Reach   Reach   Reach   Reach   Reach   Reach

Listened to music
 on mobile phone         12.9%   15.0%   13.3%   20.0%   18.9%    5.7%

Listened to music
 on mobile phone (source)

Transferred from PC      11.1%   13.3%   11.6%   17.5%   15.8%    4.3%

Direct to phone -
 transferred from
 friends/family           1.6%    1.3%    1.3%    1.4%    2.4%    0.5%

Direct to phone -
 downloaded from
 music service            1.1%    1.1%    0.6%    1.7%    1.9%    1.0%

Direct to phone - other   1.1%    0.4%    0.6%    1.4%    1.2%    0.2%

Source: M:Metrics, Inc., Copyright © 2008. Survey of mobile subscribers.
        Data based on three-month moving average for period ending 30th
        November 2007, mobile subscribers in  France, n = 12,867 Germany,
        n = 15,700; Italy, n = 13,107; Spain, n = 12,877; United Kingdom,
        n = 15,588; United States, n = 33,237.


Source of Mobile Music Consumption as Percentage of
 Active Listeners November 2007

                        France  Germany  Italy   Spain    UK      US

Source of mobile music

Transferred from PC      85.8%   88.7%   86.9%   87.3%   83.6%   75.2%

Direct to phone -
 transferred from
 friends/family          12.5%    8.8%    9.8%    7.1%   12.5%    8.1%

Direct to phone -
 downloaded from
 music service            8.3%    7.6%    4.7%    8.6%   10.0%   18.3%

Direct to phone -
 other                    8.8%    2.9%    4.3%    7.0%    6.4%    3.7%

Source: M:Metrics, Inc., Copyright © 2008. Survey of mobile subscribers.
        Data based on three-month moving average for period ending 30th
        November 2007, mobile subscribers in  France, n = 12,867 Germany,
        n = 15,700; Italy, n = 13,107; Spain, n = 12,877; United Kingdom,
        n = 15,588; United States, n = 33,237.

Musicphone penetration has grown considerably in the United States and Western Europe, at an aggregated rate of 50.7 percent growth from November 2006 to November 2007 across the six geographies. The United States is the fastest-growing market, with 63.6 percent growth, from 23.2 million subscribers owning musicphones in November 2006 to 63.8 million one year later. Musicphones include all mobile handsets that are, at a minimum, capable of digital music playback (AAC, MP3, MPEG-2 AAC, MPEG-4 AAC+ or WMA codecs) and storage (greater than 47MB or support for memory expansion) or are a smartphone.

M:Metrics applies trusted media measurement methodologies to assess the audience for mobile content and applications. As the world's most authoritative mobile media measurement firm, M:Metrics delivers the most accurate mobile market metrics through the world's largest monthly survey of mobile subscribers as well as automated data collection methodologies. Below are the findings of its November Benchmark Survey.

Mobile Subscriber Monthly Consumption of Content and Applications
M:Metrics Benchmark Survey: November 2007

                       US      EU      FR       DE     IT      ES      UK
Total mobile
 subscribers (13+)    219m   220.5m   45.5m   48.5m   46.5m   33.5m   46.5m

Watched video         9.3m    11.2m    2.3m    1.2m    2.8m    2.6m    2.4m

Listened to music    12.4m    34.8m    5.9m    7.3m    6.2m    6.7m    8.8m

Accessed news/
 info via browser    27.6m      20m    4.2m    2.5m    3.5m    2.5m    7.2m

Received SMS ads     45.2m   117.6m   29.5m   16.6m   27.6m   24.2m   19.6m

Played downloaded
 game                19.8m    19.1m    1.8m    3.7m    4.1m    4.4m    5.1m

Accessed downloaded
 application          9.1m     5.8m    583K    1.0m    1.9m    821K    1.5m

Sent/received photos
 or videos           44.8m    60.6m   11.0m   10.5m   14.5m   10.6m   13.8m

Purchased ringtones  21.2m     9.4m    1.9m      2m    2.2m    1.5m    1.7m

Used email           25.4m    18.4m    3.0m    3.4m    4.7m    3.0m    4.2m

Accessed social
 networking sites     7.9m     4.8m    788K    674K    881K    801K    1.7m

Source: M:Metrics, Inc., Copyright © 2008. Survey of mobile subscribers.
        Data based on three-month moving average for period ending 30th
        November 2007, mobile subscribers in  France, n = 12,867 Germany,
        n = 15,700; Italy, n = 13,107; Spain, n = 12,877; United Kingdom,
        n = 15,588; United States, n = 33,237


Percentage of Mobile Subscriber Monthly Consumption of Content and
 Applications
M:Metrics Benchmark Survey: November 2007

                       US      EU5     FR       DE     IT      ES      UK

Watched video          4.2%    5.1%    5.0%     2.5%   6.0%    7.7%    5.1%

Listened to music      5.7%   15.8%   12.9%    15.0%  13.3%   20.0%   18.9%

Accessed news/
info via browser      12.6%    9.1%    9.2%     5.2%   7.6%    7.5%   15.5%

Received SMS ads      20.6%   53.3%   64.8%    34.3%  59.4%   72.4%   42.2%

Played downloaded
 game                  9.1%    8.7%    4.0%     7.6%   8.7%   13.0%   11.0%

Accessed downloaded
 application           4.2%    2.6%    1.3%     2.2%   4.0%    2.5%    3.3%

Sent/received photos
 or videos            20.5%   27.5%   24.3%    21.7%  31.3%   31.7%   29.7%

Purchased ringtones    9.7%    4.3%    4.3%     4.2%   4.6%    4.6%    3.7%

Used email            11.6%    8.3%    6.7%     6.9%   10.2%   9.0%    9.1%

Accessed social
 networking sites      3.6%    2.2%    1.7%     1.4%    1.9%   2.4%    3.6%

Source: M:Metrics, Inc., Copyright © 2008. Survey of mobile subscribers.
        Data based on three-month moving average for period ending 30th
        November 2007, mobile subscribers in  France, n = 12,867 Germany,
        n = 15,700; Italy, n = 13,107; Spain, n = 12,877; United Kingdom,
        n = 15,588; United States, n = 33,237.

About M:Metrics

M:Metrics is the mobile media authority. As the only research firm to measure the audience for mobile media, M:Metrics provides the most accurate metrics on actual mobile content consumption by applying trusted media measurement methodologies to the mobile market.

M:Metrics' monthly syndicated data service gives clients the critical insights and intelligence required to inform smart business strategies and the competitive benchmarks needed to evaluate the performance of competitors and partners. M:Metrics is a private, venture-funded corporation headquartered in Seattle, with offices in San Francisco and London.

About M:Metrics Data

Based on continually refreshed samples of nationally representative mobile phone consumers, M:Metrics reports summarise market size, device reach, and key demographic and mobile phone usage characteristics.

The data presented here is drawn from an extensive survey questionnaire that collects specific device model and carrier subscription information from each month's sample of mobile phone subscribers, and also drills down into specific details related to current and past usage of various mobile phone applications and content. Data collected from each sample are statistically balanced and projected to the total national population of mobile phone subscribers.

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