The Asia-Pacific region is more than comfortable with mobile marketing, according to a consumer survey jointly produced by mobile ad network InMobi and comScore, writes Martin Conway.

Based on interviews with 3,500 mobile users across India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Australia, the survey reveals that 69 per cent of consumers are comfortable with mobile advertising, and that 54 per cent would be willing to receive personalised ads via their mobile devices.

As reported in Mobile Marketing’s Focus On India piece in Issue 3 of our print edition, the Indian market has particularly welcomed such marketing campaigns, with 72 per cent of respondents from this country claiming to be happy with promotional and advertising texts – a number far higher than that recorded for US consumers. India also leads the Asia-Pacific region in terms of volume of impressions, having reached the 6bn mark, with Indonesia coming in second.

Just over half of the Asia-based respondents hinted that free apps and lower phone bills would be worthwhile incentives for receiving ads, while 46 per cent of those surveyed claimed to have benefited from being introduced to a new product as the result of a mobile marketing campaign. In terms of demographics, the survey highlights under-25 males as the most receptive to mobile advertising.

James Lamberti, VP, Global Research & Marketing, InMobi, comments: “Consumers are embracing the mobile channel already, and, when combined with the upcoming 3G adoption, this will make India one of the most explosive mobile advertising markets in the world.”
The survey also concludes that Nokia’s OS platforms continue to dominate the region’s preference for handsets. The manufacturer commands nearly 65 per cent of the Asia market, followed by Samsung, which enjoys a 17 per cent market share.