As of July 2007, the CTIA – a trade organization for the wireless telecommunications industry – reported that there were more than 239 million wireless subscriptions in the U.S. But what are marketers doing to reach the growing mobile audience?

In the last year, many marketers and media companies boldly entered the mobile media market in what might be described as an experimental period for the mobile platform. If 2006 was about experimentation, 2007 has thus far been about market validation, metrics and the more calculated evolution of a mobile media and advertising marketplace.

Today, a number of research companies, including The Nielsen Company, are taking the deep dive into understanding mobile consumer behavior. Nielsen’s recent announcement acquiring Telephia, Inc., the leading provider of syndicated consumer research to the telecom and mobile media markets, accelerates Nielsen’s strategy of providing clients worldwide with the most accurate measurement and analysis of consumer behavior and media use across platforms. Plans are underway to launch several new services in the coming year to support the burgeoning media, marketing and wireless communities. These new insights on the mobile consumer will help marketers better understand and navigate the mobile media landscape.

I want my MobileTV
Remember when watching music videos on TV was cutting edge? Who would have guessed that little more than 25 years later that watching video could be done anytime, anywhere in a device that sits in the palm of your hand? While still in its infant stages, mobile marketing is already delivering a number of unique opportunities to reach consumers. Though SMS-based (short message service) text-messaging campaigns, downloadable wallpapers and ringtones have been the initial forays of many companies into the mobile consumer’s pocket, more and more companies are experimenting with mobile web and mobile video campaigns.

Today, usage of mobile web (such as WAP – wireless application protocol sites and on-deck carrier web content) is more pervasive than usage of mobile video (such as short clips, streaming video and live TV). According to Nielsen, more than 14% of U.S. persons 12 and older accessed the mobile web in the first quarter of 2007. And among 18-34 year olds, a more substantial 25%, or one in four U.S. persons, used mobile web technology. Among teens 12-17, usage is slightly lower, with 15% of teens using cell phones to surf the web in the first quarter.

Adoption of mobile video is still in the early stages as consumers gain access to the high speed networks and previously high-priced handsets that optimize mobile content consumption. Not surprisingly, teens and 18-34 year-olds are the most prevalent users. In the first quarter of 2007, Nielsen estimates that 8% of U.S. teens 12-17 accessed steaming video clips or live TV through their mobile phone, and 7% of 18-34 year olds accessed this content. Overall, mobile video consumption in the total population is still fairly low, with just 3% of total U.S. persons 12 and older accessing the mobile web in that time period.

He said, she said
While the mobile Internet audience skewed slightly more male in Q1 2007 (55%), gender audience composition for mobile video was relatively balanced: 51% of the mobile video audience 18 and older was female. Age and gender analysis, however, is just the start. Nielsen's forthcoming products provide rich profiles of the emerging mobile media consumer and their consumption patterns. This information will help the mobile media industry establish competitive positioning and enable more efficient, targeted marketing campaigns.

Popular picks
While the MTV generation has grown up, watching music videos continues to be a favorite pastime. A closer look by Nielsen at the genre preferences for produced (excluding user-generated) video content of a sample of 13-54 year-old mobile subscribers showed that music videos had the greatest reach (12%), followed in popularity by movie trailers (11%), TV content (9%) and mobile commercials (8%).

It must be true that everyone likes a good laugh, though, because contrary to the conventional wisdom that consumers would be most interested in time-sensitive information such as news, weather or sports videos on their phones, mobile consumers reported that comedy was the genre they would most like to see on their phones in the future. Two-thirds (67%) of 13-54 year-old wireless consumers said they’d be interested in comedy video content on their phone, ahead of news (56%), weather (52%) and sports (49%). Later this year, Nielsen will report on the reach and usage of specific mobile web and video content, providing a unique three-screen perspective of content consumed across the measured media of television, Internet and mobile.

Hype or happening?
Today, mobile web and mobile video receive a great deal of buzz in the marketing community, but with mobile video penetration only around 3% for persons 12+ and mobile Internet not much higher, critics are asking: Is mobile media too much sizzle and not enough steak?

If the recent launch of Apple’s iPhone (which sold 500,000 units in the first three days) is any indication, then the market is moving well beyond the sizzle. If adoption of these technologies seems small today, remember that the penetration of mobile technology is partly constrained by scheduled device and service changes in customer contracts. As consumers “refresh,” their plans and phones and simultaneously more affordable web and video-capable handsets become available, the penetration and use of new mobile services will surely grow.

Additionally, as other marketing differentiators (signal strength, number of minutes, coverage areas) level, emerging mobile media capabilities will play a larger role in subscriber acquisition and retention – ensuring that the growth of the mobile media platform will be a high priority for the carrier community.

As these stars align for acceleration of the growth of the mobile platform, marketers and media companies who move boldly into the mobile space today may still reap the rewards of early entry.