DATA POINTS: Media Consumption Generation Gap Disappearing; Checking In On Japan; Getting With The Kids; Operators Cutting Costs
PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENT GENERATIONS HAVE LARGELY SIMILAR VIEWS ABOUT CONNECTIVITY AND CONTENT, says a new survey from Motorola, highlighting how the generation gap regarding use of media technology and services is disappearing. The survey found that 80 percent of Millenials, 78 percent of Gen Xers and 78 percent of Baby Boomers want to be constantly connected; 79 percent, 64 percent and 65 percent, respectively, say being accessible at all times is a necessity.
The survey also took a look at what it calls the “tech sphere of influence” – which found that Gen Xers and Boomers have more of an impact on their children’s tech habits than vice-versa. Motorola also found that nearly 60 percent of those surveyed have received customized recommendations for content or services, and almost half of them have acted on the recommendation. Source
The bottom line: The generation gap is clearly disappearing, which isn’t particularly surprising as Gen Xers age. But the stats from the Boomers underline the size and importance of that market, even though it’s often overlooked by new media firms.
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40 PERCENT OF JAPAN’S MOBILE DATA USERS ARE ON FLAT-RATE PLANS, Kei Shimada from Infinita told the Heroes of the Mobile Screen event in London recently, as relayed by Stuart Dredge of Mobile Entertainment. Shimada says this figure will grow to 60 percent in 2011, and rattled off a laundry list of other stats:
- Japanese mobile users generate 239 billion page views per month, with 60 percent of them off-portal
- The Japanese mobile content market was worth $5 billion in 2008, and the mobile commerce market generates $10 billion in revenues
- Mobile ads were worth $913 million in 2008 and are projected to be worth $1.3 billion in 2011. Source
The bottom line: While in many respects, the rest of the world has caught up to Japan’s mobile market, these figures show that in many others, Japan still leads the way.
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1.2 BILLION PEOPLE AGED 5 TO 25 OWN MOBILE PHONES WORLDWIDE, according to Graham Brown from Mobile Youth. He shared the stats in another session at Heroes of the Mobile Screen, and Stuart Dredge again came through with some detailed notes. Brown said half of those 1.2 billion live in Asia, adding that there are still 800 million Asian kids that are yet to get their first mobile. He says that by 2012, a fifth of the world’s mobile youth will be in India alone.
He also said that the average age for Europeans to get their first mobile is now 7.1 years, and that kids spend 10 percent of their disposable income on mobile – which translates to 12 times more than the entire global recorded music industry. 60 percent of kids even sleep with their phones. Source
The bottom line: Kids love mobile. And have got some money to spend on it.
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MOBILE OPERATORS WORLDWIDE CUT COSTS AND INVESTMENT OVER THE PAST YEAR, says a new report from Wireless Intelligence. Opex dropped from 60 percent of operator revenues in Q3 from 63 percent in 2008, while capex fell from 14 percent to 10 percent. The report also projects that total revenues for operators in the 30 OECD countries will fall from EUR411 billion a year ago to EUR408 billion this year, with revenues in Europe down 4.3 percent to EUR36.5 billion. Source
The bottom line: It wasn’t a good year for infrastructure vendors.
