Mobile Marketing Blog by InMovil Media

Infinita Inc., a consulting firm based in Tokyo, specializing in mobile telecommunications, announced today the release of its new research report “21st Century Mobile Marketing: Global Insights from the World’s Most Advanced Mobile Society: Japan”.

This 188-page market report provides detailed insights into the inner workings of mobile marketing and advertising in a country where the vast majority of the population uses mobile Internet services already - and where mobile marketing is fast evolving into a standard part of the marketing mix, a scenario soon to become reality in many other parts of the world as well.

According to industry data released by Japan’s largest advertising agency Dentsu in late February 2008, mobile advertising expenditures in the Japanese market in 2007 increased by almost 60% compared to the previous year, reaching JPY 62.1 billion (ca. USD 620 million). This result tops even Dentsu’s own optimistic prognosis, published 12 months earlier, by 12%, a significant performance in an advertising market close to saturation - total advertising expenditures in Japan only grew by 1.1% from 2006 to 2007, and by 1.7% between 2005 and 2006.

For the first time ever, online advertising expenditures (JPY 443.6 billion, ca. USD 4.4 billion) exceeded combined radio and magazine advertising expenditures, which each were down around 4% on a YoY basis. Newspaper advertising suffered even more heavily at -5%, and TV advertising expenditures are down for the third year in a row. While the importance of mobile advertising is growing, it still accounts for a relatively small share of online advertising revenues (10.3%) and for a minor piece of the whole advertising pie, which is still dominated by TV, print and sales promotion.

Considering how media usage is developing in Japan, there is still clearly a disconnect between advertising spendings on traditional media and mobile. Between 2000 and 2006, the share of time that consumers spend on mobile (relative to all forms of media) has increased four-fold to 4%, but mobile-related expenditures still only account for 1% of all advertising spendings. 25% of Japanese mobile data users today respond to mobile campaigns and actually sign up for promotions or make purchases as a result. Close to another third click on ads, but do not participate in promotional offers.

Thus, there is no question that mobile advertising will continue to gain in significance in Japan - a market where more than 4 in 5 of a total 100 million mobile subscribers use mobile data services. Which factors have contributed to where we stand today, what are the forces driving the industry at the moment, and which challenges and opportunities does the market face in the coming years? Taking Japan as an example of an advanced mobile society, what developments can be expected in other markets, which are fast catching up technologically and with regard to user adoption?

Do you want an answer to these questions and how to apply them to your business, please contact us.