100m mobile phone subscribers in the EU5 countries – UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy – received SMS ads on their phone in the three months to the end of September 2010, according to figures from comScore’s MobiLens service. Of those, more than 57m recalled seeing an ad on their mobile phone when browsing the internet or accessing an app. Smartphone owners accounted for more than half of the subscribers who received and recalled seeing web or in-app ads.

Across the EU5 countries, SMS ads reached 43.6 per cent of the 230.5m mobile users in September 2010, while the ads were seen and recalled by nearly a quarter of the total mobile audience. The most common type of SMS ad recalled was product, service or brand information, which more than 60m mobile phone owners received, equalling a 26.3 per cent reach across the EU5 countries.

SMS ads for donations to charities and non-profit organisations reached 9.7m people, and 11.6 perc ent of subscribers that received this type of SMS responded at least once during the three month average ending in September 2010. Coupons or discounts sent via SMS followed, with a 10.3 per cent response rate. Out of the 33.4m people who received a text message that promoted a contest, 7.3 per cent responded. While SMS advertising about products, services or brands had the largest reach, the response rate was the lowest at 5.7 per cent.