Youth Marketing Statistics

Survey: Many Teens Use Phones in Class to Text or Cheat

In the survey, 26% of teens admitted that they use their phones
to store information to look at during a test,
and 25% text-message friends about test answers.

By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY

One-fourth of teens' cellphone text messages are sent during class, a new survey finds, despite widespread classroom bans on cellphones at school. The survey of 1,013 teens — 84% of whom have cellphones — also shows that a significant number have stored information on a cellphone to look at during a test or have texted friends about answers. More than half of all students say people at their school have done the same.

Only about half of teens say either of the practices is a "serious offense," suggesting that students may have developed different personal standards about handwritten information vs. material stored on cellphones, says pollster Joel Benenson. "The message about doing those kinds of things on the cellphone may not be reinforced the same way," he says.

The poll found that teens send 440 text messages a week on average — 110 of them during class. That works out to more than three texts per class period. The findings also reveal a split in perception between teens and parents: Only 23% of parents whose children have cellphones think they are using them at school; 65% of students say they do.

Benenson conducted the online poll in late May and early June for Common Sense Media, a San Francisco-based education company. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Mobile Phone Market Research India

Phone manufacturer usage

April 2009 ending quarterly Average -  India Urban Mobile Phone Users (N=5,775)

Brands	Installed base*
	GSM	CDMA	Total (GSM + CDMA)
LG	4.4%	47.6%	14.4%
Motorola	7.8%	5.4%	7.2%
Nokia	62.6%	24.3%	53.7%
Samsung	9.0%	11.2%	9.5%
Sony-Ericsson	8.9%		6.8%

* – Users currently using the phone model

On looking at the ability of manufacturers to gain market share via word of mouth, Nokia and Sony-Ericsson fare a lot better compared to the other three big manufacturers, with 2 out of 3 users for each of the two manufacturers mentioning they are likely to recommend their handset to their friends.

Phone manufacturer usage

April 2009 ending quarterly Average – India Urban Mobile Phone Users (N=5,775)

Model	Installed base*
	Likely to Recommend**
LG	57.6%
Motorola	41.0%
Nokia	68.6%
Samsung	55.7%
Sony-Ericsson	65.3%

* – Users currently using the phone model

**Likely to recommend current phone manufacturer to others

If users are able to control the advertising they receive on their mobile phones and are incentivised then 70 percent are happy to receive advertising according to findings from an in-depth research project into the U.K. market. While control is obviously a massive advantage in preventing spam, U.K. users also cited incentives (in the form of cash and a reduction on the phone bill) as an acceptable way to receive advertising, with 64 percent happy to receive advertising on these terms. A selection of findings from the research was presented at the Mobile Advertising U.K. conference (#maduk) on Monday and can be viewed here.

Other key findings from the event included:

· Mobile advertising in the U.K. is nearly worth 30 million GBP

· As a part of the total advertising industry, mobile advertising is a mere 0.16% of the total market, which compares to internet advertising in 1998.

· With a growth rate of 99% in 2008 vs. 2007 and the shift towards digital advertising, targeting and need for reach, it is predicted mobile advertising will grow significantly during the coming years

· Key identified opportunities by market experts are location-based marketing, mobile coupons, multi-media advertising, operator cooperation, text-based advertising and app stores

· Identified obstacles are lack of understanding between brands and telco’s, lack of fully-developed, shared standards and metrics, non-operator cooperation and the fact that online formats cannot simply be copied to mobile

The conference was organised by start-up Camerjam in association with the global communications movement, EverySingleOfOneUs, which held its inaugural Mobile Campaign of the Year award at the conference. The award was won by AKQA and Nike for the PhotoiD campaign which was deemed by the expert panel of judges to best meet EverySingleOneOfUs’ 4 rules of engagement. Founder of EverySingleOneOfUs and CEO of JMA, Jonathan MacDonald explained, “Akqa won the award due to their close attention to user experience, in terms of a highly relevant and transparent offering that was easy to interact with, whilst showing a clear incentive of value.”

The conference was also treated to an interview with the godfather of advertising in the UK, Ogilvy’s Vice Chair, Rory Sutherland. Rory was interviewed by Peggy Salz, Chief Analyst at MSearchGroove, and he gave some extremely insightful and entertaining thoughts about mobile advertising. Rory suggested that there is perhaps an over reliance on metrics within the advertising industry, by saying “Media buyers, buy media, like alcoholics, buy wine; best value per pound”. He also went on to champion branded utility stating that, “It’s a lot easier to be repeatedly useful, than repeatedly funny”. For a full audio recording of the interview, click here courtesy of Peggy at MSearchGroove.

The U.K. event is just part of a global initiative. James Cameron, Founder of Camerjam, explained “Mobile Advertising U.K. will return in 2010, where new qualitative and quantitative findings will be presented, tracking developments and key facts in the market.” Cameron added, “It is part of a global market stimulation approach which today includes Germany, the U.S. and the Netherlands”

The Mobile Advertising U.K. organising partners will follow this event up with workshops that present these in-depth results to companies seeking to generate revenues from mobile advertising. Speaking about the research and workshops, Tarik Fawzi, Managing Director of Aeneas Strategy, Consulting and Management said, “The research gives each reader concrete insights into how to make mobile work, regardless of their position in the value chain. Each workshop will be specifically tailored to the company in question, identifying the challenges and obstacles ahead, while clearly outlining steps needed to stimulate and deliver the potential growth.