China is More Into Mobile Web Than US

A recent report released by Netpop Research, a market research firm, found that users of Web-enabled mobile devices in China are much more likely to use them to connect to the Web than their American counterparts.

In the U.S., 18 million of the 57 million people with Web-enabled mobile phones, or 31 percent, use those devices to connect to the Internet.

In China, 102 million of the 182 million people with Web-enabled mobile phones, or 56 percent, use those devices to connect to the Internet.

While fees for premium mobile Web content are typically lower in China, people there spend a larger slice, approximately 2 percent to 3 percent, of their monthly income pie on voice and data plans than people in the U.S., where they spend about 1 percent of their monthly income on voice and data plans.

“Discovery of Web service is occurring more frequently now through mobile devices, and continues to grow,” said Josh Crandall, president of Netpop. “And in China more than 10 percent of the population is actually discovering many Web services through the phone first and then migrating to the PC, and we’re starting to see this in the U.S.”

Crandall advises that Web sites with both mobile and PC-based destinations offer distinct environments in both. After giving mobile users a “tailored” mobile experience with their brand, maybe for the first time, these brands should then “bring them back to the PC, through the consistent login experience, a consistent branding experience, offering more marketing abilities through the computer, because the computer may offer more marketing real estate than the mobile device.”

In 2008, $1.4 billion was spent on online advertising in China, according to MAGNA, ZenithOptimedia and Bernstein Research. Of this total, $723 million, or 50.2 percent, was spent on display and rich media advertising, while $630 million, or 43.7 percent, was spent on search advertising. The remaining $88 million was spent on other online efforts.

The trio of companies expects this total figure to rise 20.3 percent to $1.7 billion in 2009.

Online advertising spending in China is expected to reach $2.2 billion in 2010, $2.8 billion in 2011, and $3.5 billion in 2012.

Search advertising is expected to gain its share of total ad spending in China and is expected to overtake display and rich media in 2011.

From 2007 through 2012, this would translate into compound annual growth of 24 percent.

eMarketer expects online advertising in the U.S. to reach $25.7 billion in 2009, and $37 billion in 2012.

Sources:</strong

http://www.clickz.com/3633266

http://www.thestandard.com/news/2009/04/03/report-china-outnumbers-us-mobile-broadband-users-5-1

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1007009