Top-level Findings

• The mobile internet user is predominantly male, and likely to be between 18 and 45 years old. He is digitally savvy, and immersed in popular culture in all its forms – TV, music, film and fashion. He is highly social, and actively engaged in group-pursuits.
• The mobile internet user is not a teenager. He is an adult facing a number of crucial life milestones, from changing jobs, to buying a home or car, to starting a family.
• His internet usage is split between the fixed internet and the mobile internet, and he downloads an eclectic variety of apps and games at the moment they come out.
• Over half of the audience have either sporadic access or no access at all to the fixed internet, making the mobile internet a valuable channel to reach a unique user-base.

Statistics

Handsets

Country

Kenya Statistics

• In 7th place is Kenya (522 million impressions) despite slower growth (3%) in the fourth quarter, following six months of triple digit growth.
• Compared to 2010, the Kenyan audience grew by 245%.

Demographics Age

Demographics Gender

Channels

Handsets

Market Forecast

5 key Ongoing Trends

1. Demand for content continues to grow.
   - International players are shifting their attention to high growth new markets such as Vietnam, Ghana, Kenya, Argentina and Brazil.
   - Freemium games are offering brands and entertainment companies the opportunity to generate immersive experiences, which creates loyalty and extends the life of an ad campaign.
2. Carriers continue to market off-portal, not so much to gain market share, but to educate their own user bases on new products and services.
   -This off-portal advertising has a dual agenda: to increase data traffic, and to remedy falling revenues from prepaid customers.
3. The travel and hospitality industry is starting to reap the rewards of mobile.
   -  Campaigns are working to promote specials and fill rooms and seats.
   - Services such as mobile check-in are improving customer experience.
4. Retailers are starting to move into the mobile space, especially those associated with carriers and MVNOs.
5. Basic mobile financial services need to be refined, and promoted effectively. Many services in the market suffer from poor consumer education, as indicated by our recent user

Opportunities for Advertisers

• India, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Kenya and Vietnam remain bargains for advertisers, with millions of ad impressions at very reasonable rates.
• Central and South America continue their explosive economic growth, which is being matched by their increase in mobile traffic, in a number of markets – particularly Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.
• Mobile strategies have matured, and it’s no longer a case of ‘apps vs the web’. Recent brand campaigns have proven the benefits of promoting freemium brand apps with mobile internet campaigns, to extend the life of a campaign and create an immersive brand experience.

Opportunities for Publishers

• Malaysia has emerged as one of the most expensive markets on a CPC basis, and the chronic undersupply of content and publishers, combined with strong advertiser demand, have inflated advertising rates very fast. Publishers who grow their inventory now, and meet that user demand, are sure to earn healthy revenues.
• South Africa remains one of the hottest markets in mobile, with consistent advertiser demand from a maturing ad industry that is delivering new consumer brands to mobile each month. Relative undersupply of locally relevant content is a great opportunity for publishers. Carriers in particular are facing a great opportunity to earn revenue on their content.
• Localised content draws increased usage. Stats from our games platform have proven the benefits of including local characters, themes, presentation and language in the success of a game, with partners using this approach to great effect in China, India and Thailand.

Opportunities for App Developers

The app explosion has created a valuable market over the past two years, with ad-supported games, and free trials of useful/addictive games and apps effectively generating revenues.

• Ad wrappers are effectively generating revenues for a number of developers. They display ads as games are starting up and being closed. The benefit of ad wrappers is that they do not require re-coding of your existing catalogue of games. An ad wrapper literally “wraps” itself around your applications, adding a new revenue stream, and allowing more competitive pricing of premium games.
• Take advantage of opportunities to localise your apps. Our games platform demonstrates that certain games are favoured above others in particular markets (for example, Bangladesh loves soccer games; Thailand loves online games, the Ukraine loves gambling). Simply incorporating a local theme or language option can open up entirely new markets, at very little cost.
• The key to success is effective distribution, and services that facilitate discovery are important partners. Take advantage of platforms that syndicate free and ad-supported apps to a significant global audience of mobile users.

Mobile Lifestyle Survey Findings

• The mobile internet audience is ready to take charge of its career. Over 30% of respondents are likely to look for a new job within the next 12 months – either because they will graduate, or because they are looking to switch employers.
• Over half of respondents have made remote purchases of goods or services. 53% of respondents have made a purchase via mail, phone or internet. Including digital content (distributed via an app store or portal), the number of respondents who have transacted jumps to 82%.
• Downloads are the most popular items purchased (23%), followed by physical digital content products such as DVDs (11%) and tickets for entertainment or travel (10%).
• Mobile is an enormous financial services opportunity. 46% of respondents state that they would use their phones for financial services (money transfers, bill payments and loan applications), if these services were available to them.
• Interacting with electronic media (TV, movies and music) is the mobile user’s favourite leisure activity. Entertainment houses have started to capitalise on this, with over 10% of respondents having booked a movie ticket online (a growth of over 6% since we last ran the survey in 2008).