Mobile Internet Becoming a Daily Activity for Many

Number of people accessing news and information on their mobile device more than doubles in a year.

comScore, Inc.  a leader in measuring the digital world, today reported that the number of people using their mobile device to access news and information on the Internet more than doubled from January 2008 to January 2009. Among the audience of 63.2 million people who accessed news and information on their mobile devices in January 2009, 22.4 million (35 percent) did so daily; more than double the size of the audience last year.

         Accessed News and Information* by Frequency of Access
         Three-month Average Ending January 2008 and January 2009
         U.S. Mobile Phone Users
         comScore, Inc.
                                Unique Users (000s)
  Frequency of
   Mobile Internet            Jan-08           Jan-09        % Change
    Access

  Daily                       10,821           22,369           107
  Weekly                      10,312           19,283            87
  Ever in the month           36,870           63,182            71

  *Excludes social networking

“Over the course of the past year, we have seen use of mobile Internet evolve from an occasional activity to being a daily part of people’s lives,” observed Mark Donovan, senior vice president, mobile, comScore. “This underscores the growing importance of the mobile medium as consumers become more reliant on their mobile devices to access time-sensitive and utilitarian information.”

    Fastest-Growing Categories for Daily Mobile Web Access *
    Three-month Average Ending January 2008 and January 2009
    U.S. Mobile Phone Users
    comScore, Inc.
                                            Unique Users (000)
                            Daily Unique     Daily Unique      % Change
                               Users             Users
                              Jan-08            Jan-09
  Accessed News and
   Information (any)         10,821             22,369           107
  Accessed social
   networking site or blog    1,761             9,278            427
  Traded stocks or accessed
   financial account          1,135             3,274            188
  Accessed movie
   information                1,077             3,072            185
  Accessed business
   directories                  939             2,447            161
  Accessed entertainment
   news                       2,104             5,470            160

  *For categories of usage with monthly audiences above 15 million

“Social networking and blogging have emerged as very popular daily uses of the mobile Web and these activities are growing at a torrid pace,” observed Donovan. “We also note that much of the growth in news and information usage is driven by the increased popularity of downloaded applications, such as those offered for the iPhone, and by text-based searches. While smartphones and high-end feature phones, like the Samsung Instinct and LG Dare comprise the Top 10 devices used for news and information access, 70 percent of those accessing mobile Internet content are using feature phones.”

In January, 22.3 million people accessed news and information via a downloaded application. Maps are the most popular downloaded application with 8.2 million users, while search was the overwhelmingly favored use for SMS-based news and information access, with 14.1 million users. Overall, 32.4 million people used SMS to access news and information in January.

Young males are the most avid users of mobile news and information, with half of 18 to 34-year-old males engaging in the activity. The mobile Internet is also quite popular among females in the 18 to 24-year-old demographic, with 40 percent accessing it at least once in January.

About comScore

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com

Source: comScore, Inc.

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