Mobile Users in the Olympics

Mobile Users Becoming A Force

Posted by Sam Churchill on August 8th, 2008

New research from The Nielsen Company shows that a substantial number of mobile users across the globe will be following the Olympics on their cell phones this summer, making the Games a watershed moment for mobile media.

According to Nielsen Mobile, nearly 45% of US and 31% of UK mobile video users will be part of the mobile audience for the 2008 Olympic Games.

The research also suggests that the mobile internet will play a critical role, as 23% of US and 17% of UK mobile internet users will be tracking the Games through their phone browsers, with event results and medal counts the most desired pieces of information.

Google has effectively leveraged its front-runner status as it expands to wireless, according to Nielsen Mobile. Google accounted for 61% of all mobile searches in the first quarter of 2008, Nielsen found, more than tripling Yahoo’s output. MSN was last among the three providers with a mere 5%; lesser players such as AOL, go2 and Ask.com went unranked.

Top 3 Mobile Internet Search Providers for Q1 2008:

1. Google (61%)
2. Yahoo! (18%)
3. MSN (5%)

But, says RCR News, a closer look shows a wide-open space for anybody. Only 44% of Google users rated their satisfaction with mobile search at eight or higher on a 10-point scale, and only 40% of Yahoo users were similarly impressed.

Yahoo’s mobile site for e-mail drew the most U.S. traffic of any wireless destination in May, according to Nielsen Mobile, drawing 14.2 million unique visitors and outpacing Google’s search page by 64%. While Google finished a distant second with 9.1 million uniques, a gaggle of sites finished just behind including The Weather Channel (8.6 million), MSN Hotmail (7.9 million), Gmail (7.5 million) and ESPN (6.5 million).

Yahoo has made strides with downloadable applications and Internet sites that effectively serve as a branded deck, taking consumers by the hand as they surf on their phones. Smaller players such as The Weather Channel and ESPN have leveraged on-deck placement to lure users.

But Apple’s iPhone is ushering in a wave of multimedia-centric devices. The Web-friendly phones may spur the branded deck. But branded portals remain firmly atop the charts when it comes to drawing traffic. And traditional Internet destinations are effectively bringing their weight to bear in wireless, says RCR News.

“Portals, with brands such as Yahoo and Google, were the most popular category of mobile Web sites as of May 2008,” Nielsen Mobile’s Nic Covey wrote. “Thirty-six million unique mobile Internet users (89% of the mobile Internet audience) accessed portals over the mobile Internet. E-mail is the next most-visited category with 26 million unique users,” or 65% of the total audience.

source : dailywireless.org