Mobile Media Trends: Who's Most Sociable and Where

Artwork: Chip Taylor
A new comScore study on mobile usage and behavior in Europe, the U.S., and Japan finds that the Japanese mobile audience is the most connected with three-quarters of users accessing mobile media in June.

Social networking had the highest reach among U.S. smartphone users, while Europeans text the most.

Mobile Behavior Varies Geographically

A cross-market analysis of mobile activities in Japan, the U.S., and Europe revealed significant differences among consumers by geography.



Comparatively 34.0 percent of mobile users in the US and 25.8 percent in Europe used their mobile browsers, with 31.1 percent in the US and 24.9 percent in Europe accessing applications.

Messaging methods also varied with Europeans displaying the strongest use of text messaging with 81.7 percent sending a text message in June, compared to 66.8 percent in the US and just 40.1 percent in Japan.

Japanese users exhibited the highest reach in the email category at 54 percent, while consumers in the US were most likely to use instant messaging services on their mobile (17.2 percent).

Social networking/blogs reached the greatest percentage of mobile users in the US at 21.3 percent, followed by Japan at 17.0 percent and Europe at 14.7 percent.


Mobile Media Usage by Demographic


In Europe, 18- to 24-year-olds represented the most-connected segment, 54 percent more likely to be mobile media users, while persons age 25 to 34 were 35 percent more likely.

In the U.S., 25- to 34-year-olds were 44 percent more likely to access mobile media than an average mobile user, with 18- to 24-year-olds 39 percent more likely.


Top Mobile Social Media Brands in Europe

1. Facebook

2. YouTube

3. MSN/Windows Live/Bing

4. Twitter

Top Mobile Social Media Brands in the U.S.:

1. Facebook

2. MySpace

3. YouTube

4. Twitter

Top Mobile Social Media Brands in Japan:

1. Mixi

2. Gree

3. Twitter

4. Mobage Town






"These differences are even more pronounced than they are for PC-based Internet usage due to the complex nature of mobile -- including various device capabilities, operating systems and methods of accessing content.


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